A Brother's Fountain and The Fill Me Up Tour

What Fills You Up? A question many of us at A Brother’s Fountain had been asking after the long and lonely road Covid has put us all through.

The Fill Me Up Tour was a 30-day road trip and music documentary touring the Southwest USA in May 2021 that attempted to answer that question. The Tour was born after playing music for 24 hours straight to raise $2K for charity and $2K for a 1979 Georgie Boy Classic RV. We decided to play pop-up concerts at every gas station along our 2,500 mile itinerary, connecting people, music and the outdoors - the things that fill us up.

The Tour was the third installment of a collection of passion projects deemed “Only Music” focused on experimenting with the power of music. Chapter one was when our band’s front-man, JJ Fountain, hitchhiked his way from Colorado to Alaska. Chapter two was when a handful of A Brother’s Fountain bandmates traveled 1,000 miles up the coast of South Africa with nothing but the clothes on their back and their instruments (no money, no food, no nada).

Across the American Southwest

We sputtered along through New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah before heading back to Colorado. We made a point to keep our arms open to new friends at any point along the trip, and we ended up jamming with most of our camp neighbors each night. Usually including laughter so hearty that the stars could hear us. We rafted. We backpacked. We hiked. We busked. We jammed.

A Stolen Guitar, Buzzards Belly, and Rising Appalachia

We played a few songs at a tiny store called Buzzards Belly General Store in Cisco, UT, a town of 4 people. The owner loved our songs and gave us a guitar she found years ago that she couldn’t find the owners to. We ended up tracking down that the guitar belonged to Rising Appalachia so we made this video, tagged them, and made new friends! From there, they gave us free tickets to their show when they came through Colorado late July and we returned the guitar to them mid-show. It was simply awesome.

Sometimes, life is like a 1979 Georgie Boy Classic RV

Georgie Boy was a real good boy. But it was extremely stressful getting him across the country. He could really only go about 55-60mph at any given time. So we got constantly passed by anyone and everyone. Not to mention the gusts of winds that would push us around every day. And without A/C and the engine roaring and blowing hot air right beneath our feet, we were so glad to arrive at our next stop… every time. That and the constant uncertainty that something may break and that we were never promised the next mile.

But we really loved him like a son. We were so proud of his performance. It was honestly amazing that he made it all the way across our entire 4 week trip with little to no issues.

One major lesson that I took away from this trip is that Georgie Boy, with his constant pieces shaking loose and unpredictable performance, seemed to be a really raw and genuine metaphor for our lives. We had neighbors in huge fancy RVs swarming us and asking for tours of Georgie Boy. Why? Because Georgie Boy wore the stories of his life on his sleeve. He was not the most beautiful rig on the road, but he was to us. And because we were constantly in gratitude for each mile we traveled, even the nights we spent surrounded by Semi’s at truck stops were an absolute blast.

What Georgie boy brought to us was not a monetary thing, it was deeper. No matter how shiny ~your~ rig is, life will still happen, and without all of the vanity, you might just be a little more prepared to face it. And, you might actually enjoy the ride. Not to mention the way we needed each other for encouragement, support, and problem solving. Phew.