The GRAMMY Award-winning musical duo, The Okee Dokee Brothers, as soon as wrote an album referred to as By the Woods whereas mountaineering a part of the Appalachian Path (AT). In addition they wrote an album (Can You Canoe?) whereas canoeing on the Mississippi River, and so they wrote one more album (Saddle Up) whereas horseback driving on the Continental Divide. The Okee Dokee Brothers’ out of doors adventures and the ensuing music encourage folks of all ages to “preserve it easy—unplugged and outdoors.” And I really like that about them.
Although categorized as youngsters’s music, The Okee Dokee Brothers meld American bluegrass and folks to create nature-infused songs that go approach past what I might think about “youngsters’s music.” Positive, some songs are foolish and excellent for youths, however others supply profound insights, and most of them will make you wish to faucet your toes and sing alongside—whether or not you’re listening at a campsite or simply driving within the automotive.
I just lately had an opportunity to take a seat down with Joe Mailander, who makes up one half of The Okee Dokee Brothers, whereas the opposite half, Justin Lansing, was out on paternity go away. We mentioned the duo’s journey to date, in addition to their music and the way their out of doors adventures have formed it.
Changing into The Okee Dokee Brothers
Mailander, 39, and Lansing, 40, are Colorado natives who met once they have been simply three years previous. They’re not really brothers, however the two grew up collectively, and their love for music and nature blossomed in these early years.
“We had a shared childhood of simply taking part in collectively, creativeness, [and] out of doors journey,” Mailander says. “[Eventually] we simply began making music and writing songs, taking part in Bob Dylan and John Denver songs, and we have been camp counselors at a summer season camp within the Rockies and we might sing folks songs across the campfire. We liked getting folks singing and simply the thought of communities connecting round music, and we at all times liked songs concerning the open air. It simply felt proper. Our first tune that we wrote collectively was referred to as ‘Within the Mountains.’ So, we’ve at all times been writing about nature.”
As the 2 began taking part in for various crowds, they realized how a lot they most popular to play household occasions with combined age teams, together with children.
“We began serious about what if we performed extra park live shows and all-ages occasions at libraries and faculties and theaters,” Mailander says. “And we began writing these varieties of songs to get children and households dancing. And we realized it didn’t should be preschool stuff; it might simply be previous folks songs that don’t should do with consuming or murdering anyone.”
“We discovered some nice folks songs that labored for all ages, and we thought we should always begin a band and we got here up with The Okee Dokee Brothers, and that had a lot momentum and vitality behind it that we type of simply put all of our give attention to that challenge. And that’s what we’ve been doing now for 16 years.”
Writing Music within the Nice Outdoor
Mailander says the outside has been an essential supply of inspiration for him and Lansing, each as people and as a band. He talks about nature virtually reverently, explaining that the thought behind their excursions on the AT, the Mississippi River, and the Continental Divide was to carve out time for his or her minds and our bodies regulate to the pure rhythms of nature after which see the place that might lead creatively.
“[Nature is] the place we go to type of gradual our considering down and get into a distinct headspace,” explains Mailander. “That’s the place you can begin noticing little particulars concerning the pure world round you and the way they will educate you little classes. And a variety of our songs or poetry comes from simply observing—for example, simply what it feels prefer to float down a river or observe how a dragonfly lands on a plant and the way its wings type of catch the daylight. These are photos that discover their approach into our songs, and it simply requires slightly bit extra intention and slowness, I assume. In order that’s the explanation we go on the market.”
One other essential aim with their album-writing excursions was to review the music from the assorted areas they traveled to. Within the case of By the Woods, the pair dug deep into the music of Appalachia, together with “back-porch banjo selecting and fiddle music.” With Can You Canoe?, they tapped into previous river songs, and with Saddle Up, they explored western music.
Methods to Hear and Help
Every of The Okee Dokee Brothers is a dad, and along with elevating their households, the duo will proceed touring in 2025. They’re additionally engaged on a brand new album that’s full of nature-inspired songs. Live shows begin up per week from at the moment, February 15, 2025, in St. Cloud, Minnesota. (Having seen them reside with my household, I extremely suggest the expertise.)
In case you have younger children, take a look at “Brambletown”, a musical movie by The Okee Dokee Brothers on PBS Youngsters. Their newest album, launched in 2023, bears the identical identify, Brambletown. One other favourite in my family is “Thousand Star Hotel,” an audiobook by Mailander and Lansing that has an accompanying same-titled album.
For households that like to sing round a campfire, The Okee Dokee Brothers’ Songs for Singin’ is a must-listen. (You possibly can even purchase the album with an illustrated songbook, which incorporates lyrics and chords.) And nature lovers shouldn’t let winter go with out listening to Winterland, an album impressed by Mailander’s and Lansing’s adventures ice fishing, canine sledding, and different seasonal shenanigans.
With a number of GRAMMY nominations and a GRAMMY Award for Greatest Kids’s Album already beneath their belts, The Okee Dokee Brothers have come a good distance from their time as camp counselors main of us in tune round a campfire. And but, in a approach, that’s nonetheless precisely what they’re nonetheless doing.
Observe together with The Okee Dokee Brothers on social media here.
Watch quick movies about their adventures on the Mississippi River, the Appalachian Path, and the Continental Divide here.
Hear on Spotify here.
And see the Okee Dokee Brothers’ record of reside exhibits for 2025 here.