You鈥檇 be just as likely to spot GRAMMY庐 Award-winning musicians Joe Mailander and Justin Lansing hiking a backwoods trail through the Rockies as you would be to catch them playing a sold-out concert. (3/20) passion for nature inspires their lively yet gentle original folk music for kids and their families. 鈥淲hen we spend a long period of time outdoors, our thinking starts shifting,鈥 they say. 鈥淲e slow down enough to notice the details in nature that can teach us little lessons about how to live life with more wonder. Maybe it鈥檚 how a stream sounds, or imagining how the trees are talking to one another, or what the birds are worried about. These details have full stories inside them, maybe a verse, or a chorus. Nature is also incredibly humbling with all its grandeur and power. So, it鈥檚 a nice setting for writing little tunes that try to shower it with some glory.鈥
Many of The Okee Dokee Brothers鈥 albums are based around a specific outdoor experience they鈥檝e had. The 鈥淎dventure Album Series鈥 includes Saddle Up!, with music inspired by their month-long horsepacking trip along the continental divide; Through The Woods, inspired by camping along the Appalachian Trail; and Can You Canoe?, based on their float trip down the great Mississippi River. What鈥檚 the next adventure this duo is planning? 鈥Our next album is about a community of critters in the woods and how they try to stay connected while the forest around them is changing. But don鈥檛 tell anyone that! It鈥檚 a secret that only the people who come to our show at the Hylton Performing Arts Center in Manassas, Virginia get to know about!鈥
The Okee Dokee Brothers will perform at the Hylton Center in Merchant Hall on the first day of spring (3/20), and we hope your family can join in the fun.
鈥淭hese experiences can break families out of a rut so they can open up, be more vulnerable, and remember why it鈥檚 so great to be part of a family. We can all forget that from time to time,鈥 Justin and Joe say. After the show, the duo hopes families leave feeling聽鈥渁 little more connected to one another.鈥 That 鈥渕aybe kids will have heard their parents singing along or seen them dropping their inhibitions to dance a bit.聽Maybe parents will see their kids' eyes light up at a joke they get.鈥
And things might get silly, too 鈥 鈥渙ne time a butterfly landed on Joe鈥檚 guitar right in the middle of a song about鈥 guess what鈥h, a bullfrog. I bet you thought I was gonna say butterfly, didn鈥檛 you? And another time Justin tripped over a chord on stage and fell on his banjo. Don鈥檛 worry, the banjo was fine.鈥
Tickets for The Okee Dokee Brothers鈥 March 20 performance are .