photos by Bridget McQuillan | words by Michael Todd

Oh, to be a traveling troubadour. The stories upon stories that live not only in Joel Alloway's memory but upon the body of his guitar are numerous and colorful.

The Lincoln native has hitchhiked for a few years now, taking his music on the streets, becoming part of the Occupy Wall Street movement and traveling to Mexico as the fated Mayan apocalypse was said to arrive. He's been to New Orleans, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and happened to be in Austin, Texas, as Hear Nebraska's crew was covering South by Southwest.

It was there at the Nebraska Music Meetup at The Library on Sixth Street that Alloway told us the chronicles behind the things that populated his guitar. When Alloway says, "On Friday, I was homeless in Waco, I didn’t know anybody; on Saturday, I was on this guy’s yacht," it's only one of the many great adventures — though "adventures" doesn't quite explain them — that the physical reminders stir up for him.

Hover over the photo below to hear Alloway's stories: