Hailing from Minneapolis, the Okee Dokee Brothers operate as a Grammy-winning bluegrass and Appalachian folk duo specializing in children's music. Their catalog draws heavily from shared wilderness excursions such as a trek along the Appalachian Trail, a canoe journey down the Mississippi River, and a camping expedition beside the Continental Divide, evident on releases including the 2012 album Can You Canoe? and the 2016 set Saddle Up.
The project unites Denver natives and longtime companions Joe Mailander on guitar and vocals with Justin Lansing on banjo and vocals, both of whom channeled an early affinity for folk music and the natural world into their partnership. Although each had played instruments since childhood, the pair completed Spanish degrees—Lansing at Illinois's Lake Forest College and Mailander at Saint John's University in Minneapolis—before settling in Minneapolis after their 2008 graduations and issuing the debut Kids with Beards. Two years afterward came Take It Outside alongside the Spanish-language ¡Excelente Fabuloso! Their fourth album, Can You Canoe?, earned the duo their initial Grammy in 2012.
In 2013 Mailander and Lansing hiked the Appalachian Trail over an extended period while composing and capturing fresh material that became their fifth studio effort, the 2014 release Through the Woods, which received a Grammy nomination for Best Children's Album. The next year the pair undertook a horse-packing journey along the Continental Divide, an experience that shaped the guest-laden, cowboy-inspired Saddle Up in 2016. Their subsequent themed project, Winterland, appeared in October 2018 and traced the transition across autumn into spring. Returning in 2020, the Okee Dokee Brothers delivered Songs for Singin', a set of original compositions patterned after the classic folk styles of Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie; the package emerged as a two-disc edition accompanied by a 32-page songbook containing lyrics and chords.
