Our Northern Hemisphere friends may be sweltering in summer, but down here in Australia, we still have a few more weeks of winter. On chilly, rainy days like the one we’re having today in Sydney, celebrating the coldest season ins’t my first instinct; but, The Okee Dokee Brothers Winterland is an excellent argument for just pulling your boots on and singing along.
The Okeee Dokee Brothers’ (U.S. duo Joe Mailander and Justin Lansing ) funk-busting style is folk-bluegrass – plenty of guitar, fiddle, ukulele, and banjo providing an energetic salve to the winter blues. Winterland is as spiritually enlivening as it is toe-tapping. This 16-song collection uses winter as a lens to cover topics including questioning our prejudices, celebrating individuality, gender conformity, and accepting death as part of life. Every song is rooted in a deep connection to nature. And, musically, the whole things is just a gosh-darn great time.
The first song “Blankets of Snow” sets the tone, opening with “It’s not always sunny/ Yeah, sometimes there’s a storm/ But, ain’t it funny how a cold day keeps you warm.” If that sounds like a metaphor to you, I think you’d be right. Again and again in Winterland, the Okee Dokee Brothers remind us to look a little deeper for the positive – not in a cartoon, “chin up,” sort of way, but for an authentic goodness and warmth.
One of the best ways to find that warmth would seem to be through the company of jolly friends. “Welcome Home” is a rousing (but family-friendly) shanty. “North Country Dance Band” is another serious hoedown that makes you feel like you stepped into the most rollicking pub around. Our favorite tune on the album is “Keep Me Warm,” a joyful sing-along about Jack Frost and the Winter Queen bringing a cozy dance party to town – every play of this one has been met with an “AGAIN!” from either my Miss 6 or Miss 2.
Big parties aren’t the only way to find your bliss in the deep mid-winter. As an introvert, I’m particular to the sweet “Ice Fishing Shack.” You might interpret this one a few different ways, but I read it as a chat with the trusty imaginary friend to a character who sometimes just needs the chance to get away from civilization for some solitude. “Lazy Day” is a departure into smooth jazz territory about one of those brilliant days when you stay home and “prioritize procrastination.” And, when the cold gets to be too much, all you need is a trusty ukulele to transport you to a beach vacation in the Hawaii/tundra mashup “Ukulele in a Snowstorm.”
Being your own person – and the acceptance of other’s individuality – is an important theme in the Winterland collection. I adore “You, You, You,” – “You, you, you were you-ing … I just love it when you you.” It makes me want to wrap my darling kids up in my arms and tell them to never change a thing about their wonderful, quirky selves. “Candles” (Miss 6’s favorite song on the album, she’d want me to tell you) celebrates the shining of that individual light that every one of us is born with. “Snowpeople,” – definitely the most overtly “political” song on the album – challenges the need for strict gender labeling, especially through clothing and colors: “Why do we roll out the circles just to put them inside a square/ Showing them who they can be by telling them what they can wear.” (I can’t assume where any of you may stand on this topic, but for me, I am more than happy to have this message of acceptance in my home).
“The Abominable Yeti” is a standout story song with a clever assonant lyric line (“the parable of the terrible, abhorable, deplorable, indominable, abominable yeti”) and a great message. In the beginning of the song, we learn about all the terrible things “they” say about the fabled yeti, but when our narrator meets one, it turns out he’s not at all what you’d expect. “Big Foot, yes, abominable no,” it turns out.
A deep connection to the land and our natural world is the strongest theme in Winterland, and indeed in all of the Okee Dokee Brothers’ work. “Howl” places the nature of wonderfully wild sled dogs in direct comparison to people who connect to nature by finding some primitive instincts – both the dogs and people can’t help but get in touch with their natural howl, and it sure sounds like a lot of fun. “Slumberjack” is a work song turned lullaby that plays with the expression of “sawing logs” – the “Great Canadian slumberjack” lets you “saw the logs of slumbertown without cutting down a tree.”
The album winds down with a final three songs that deal with natural cycles of birth, growth, and death – death being an inevitability of winter/life. “Great Grandmother Tree” is the story of a grand dame maple tree, vibrant in her part of the woods. A strong storm causes the grandmother tree to die, but even in death, she provides a home to forest plants and animals, meaning that she will live on forever. If you need to explain the death of a loved one to a child, this would be such a beautiful song to share. “New Year” gently moves through seasons and a child’s life. Finally, “Signs of Spring” closes out the winter collection on a peppy note with brassy musical accents, flowers, birds, and “hints of spring” that let us know that winter doesn’t last forever – it’s all a cycle.
Admittedly, our Australian winters aren’t exactly the long, snowy affairs of the Okee Dokee Brothers’ Upper Midwest, but on our greyest days, most of us can use a reminder of the beauty of winter, the power we each possess to shape our own and others’ happiness, and how vital it is for us to tune into the natural world all around us. Or, at very least, a few fantastic songs sure go a long way towards brightening spirits, for both the kids and grown ups. It’s likely that Winterland is still going to be on rotation here no matter the season.
Winterland is available on streaming services, Amazon, and via the Okee Dokee Brothers’ website.
This review is independent and self-funded.
Read the rest of our Listening Ears On reviews for more non-annoying children’s music!
Littlefolk by Angie Who
Little Steps, Big Adventures by Tiptoe Giants
Hey Hey, Let’s Play by Nay Nay
Helpful Songs for Little People by the Teeny Tiny Stevies
Beyond the Little Star by Benny Time
Season One by The Vegetable Plot
Here Comes Science! by They Might Be Giants
Storytime Singalong Volumes 1 and 2 by Emily Arrow
Bunny Rumble by Bunny Racket
Keep It Real! by Caspar Babypants
Scratch ‘N’ Sniff by The Sticker Club
All the Sounds by Lucy Kalantari and the Jazz Cats
Lullabies of Broadway Act II by Mimi Bessette