Hunter Sharpless is not a Band-Aide, nor is he a naïve rock groupie. For the UI sophomore, his three-month tour with Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers is just as much about him as it is about the band.

Sharpless, an English major with an emphasis in nonfiction writing, is missing the first half of the school year to venture cross-country, and he will return to the UI in January. He will travel while the band promotes its fourth studio album. After documenting his experience, he plans to turn his tale from the road into an Honors thesis, or even a book.

Sharpless, who hails from Dallas, flew to New York City to meet the band and began a 45-date tour on Sept. 11. He will stay in motels with the band and travel from venue to venue in a 15-passenger van.

Though the idea stems from the film Almost Famous, he wanted to turn the project into something more. In order to receive credit while gone, he needed to first secure a professor to sponsor him — enter Brooks Landon, a UI English professor.

“Professor Landon was very supportive,” Sharpless said. “He gave me advice and was very frank, offering books by rock critics. He’s been great through the whole process.”

Sharpless’ determined attitude helped persuade Landon he was making the right choice.

“Deciding to work with Hunter was easy: He’s bright, thoughtful, imaginative, and willing to take risks to move his writing forward,” Landon wrote in an e-mail to The Daily Iowan. “He was a student in my Prose Style class last spring, and I was impressed by his love of artful language and his willingness to experiment with his sentences. I hope that this small independent study will provide the starting point for an Honors thesis that will attempt to recapture Hunter’s time with Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers. This could be a big first step toward an exciting writing career.”

Sharpless has been listening to Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers since first coming to UI as a freshman. For him, the band represents something inherently American.

“So many people just assume that if you’re in a band that’s signed [and has] songs on iTunes, there must be all these perks,” he said.

But as Sharpless pointed out, that is not always the reality. The humble attitude of the band members is what attracted him most.

“It’s a mid-success, working-class kind of band,” he said. “It’s not raking in millions of dollars.”

But how does one begin touring with a rock band?

“The short answer is ‘because Hunter asked,’ ” lead singer and frontman Kellogg wrote in an e-mail.

“It’s amazing how few people actually ask for what they want, and then to do it in a thoughtful way that respects the other people’s point of view. Well, that’s exceptional, and it made us listen.”

Sharpless e-mailed the band in April, and he was surprised when he received a response. He proved his commitment by traveling to meet the Sixers. He also helped sell merchandise. Kellogg believes that there has never been a better time for Sharpless to join the group on the road.

“Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers has a classic American story of work, growth, disappointments, joy, family, and friendship,” Kellog wrote. “Our band is making the best music we’ve ever made, we have room on the road, and we’ve never needed another set of hands so much, so the timing is actually fantastic.”

Melanie Sharpless, Hunter Sharpless’s mother, supports her son’s once-in-a-lifetime endeavor from the beginning. As a parent, she realizes that it’s all about knowing how much control to have and knowing when to let go.

“[I] trust him,” she said. “Hunter is a pretty good kid with a head on his shoulders. There was a little hesitancy, but the fact that the band is a little older adds some stability. In some ways, I don’t see how [I] could say no, because it’s such a unique opportunity for him.”

Sharpless’ parents plan to see the band when they visit the Lone Star state later on in the tour.

“We decided through a series of interviews that Hunter wasn’t full of shit,” Kellogg wrote. “He said he really wanted to do this, then proved it by traveling a great deal to talk, he said he would help out on the road, then proved it by selling merchandise. He said he would write a compelling book, and we believe he will prove that, too. That’s the type of person worth spending your time with.”