July 06, 2023
W. Rand Smith, Irvin L and Fern D. Young Presidential Professor of Politics, Emeritus
Justin Lansing ’07 turns liberal arts education into Americana Folk music career with duo, The Okee Dokee Brothers
Justin Lansing ’07 (right) and Joe Mailander
Rand Smith, Professor Emeritus reflects on Justin Lansing ’07 and his journey from student musician to Grammy-winning family performer with childhood friend, Joe Mailander. Follow along on Lansing’s path in the words of his First-Year Studies professor and Fast & Cheap bandmate.
“Obstruction” is an off-putting word, and that’s the point. An obstruction is something that gets in your way and challenges you to figure out how to move forward. For Justin Lansing ’07, an obstruction wasn’t something to avoid; it was something to welcome. In his final semester, the double-major in Spanish and sociology and anthropology approached fellow bandmate and Professor of Music Don Meyer to direct him in a songwriting tutorial with the goal of writing at least 40 new songs by semester’s end—a challenging goal in itself.
“What’s more,” Meyer said, “Justin invited me to make up obstructions for him, just to throw him out of his comfort zone.” One of these was to devise lyrics that rhyme with the word “orange.” (You try it—ain’t easy.) Another was to write a children’s song. According to Don, Justin wrote a beautiful tune about a kid who accidentally eats an apple core and turns into an apple tree.
“Fast forward a decade or so, Justin’s earning a Grammy for children’s music,” Meyer said. “He is one of those students one never forgets.”
And here we are in 2023, with Justin and his childhood friend and musical collaborator, Joe Mailander—joined together as The Okee Dokee Brothers—celebrating not only their four Grammy nominations for Best Children’s Album (including their 2013 winner, Can You Canoe?), but also the release of their latest album, Brambletown. The Brothers are now beginning to tour the new album, and, for those living near the Chicago area, mark your calendars for their concert at Ravinia at 1 p.m., on Saturday, August 26. If you go, Justin is the one with dark hair, a beard, and a banjo.
While Brambletown contains the zany lyrics and foot-tapping, folk-style arrangements of their previous work, it also represents something of a departure for Justin and Joe. “What we’ve tried to do in Brambletown is to create an entertaining little underground animal world with all these wily little characters, while also introducing some themes with perhaps deeper meanings,” Justin said. He cites, for example, the song “The Fox and the Hare,” which is about two characters going through a romantic love separation or a divorce. “Why didn’t this relationship work out? Why doesn’t every love relationship work out? This kind of thing isn’t touched on much in kids’ music. Most of the time we want to keep things happy-go-lucky, but the reality is that many kids will have to deal with this in the future—or perhaps they’re even dealing with it now,” he said.
Discussing the new album leads Justin to articulate his musical vision: “To put some words and art to something that’s difficult to deal with is really an important reason for art. If there is not that in our music, then I think we’re doing a disservice. When we have the opportunity to put serious, important subjects out there, then I think we should do it. And to suppose that kids today are living in a happy, blissful world is just not the reality they’re going to have to deal with now and in the future.”
At an earlier point in the conversation, Justin noted: “With songwriting, there’s no limits where you can go because children are going to be adults, too. There’s so much to say to children. A lot of times we’re writing to their parents, and their parents know that, and, also, we’re writing to ourselves.” He prefers to call their brand of music “family music,” since their concerts and music provide a shared experience between parents and children.
With all of The Okee Dokee Brothers’ achievements, Justin has not forgotten where he came from, and he praises his Lake Forest experience. “For me, having that small school—almost small town—experience where you just know people around you, you get close to professors. That was huge for my development as a learner, a life-long learner, and as a community member.” The least one can say, Justin took advantage of the opportunities the College provided. He was on the swim team all four years—an experience, he says, that “taught me a huge amount about discipline, exercise, health, and how physical health is related to mental health.” He was also a resident assistant, performed in several plays, and participated in the ACM/Costa Rica program, which, he claims, “enabled me to start traveling and opened up my world.”
And music? I’m happy to say I played a small part in that: in his very first semester, Justin enrolled in my First-Year Studies course, Roots Music in American Society. “There were all these students who were interested in rootsy folk music,” Justin said. “That was a core group of people and I remained friends with many of them for all four years.” Recognizing Justin’s budding banjo talent, I invited him to join Fast & Cheap, an acoustic folk band of faculty, staff, and students that Don Meyer, Jim Cubit (now retired director of the library), and I co-founded in 1999 and which approaches its 25th anniversary next year.
And what an addition Justin made to our presence and sound. “What fun it was to play music with Justin,” Jim Cubit said. “He had an engaging, charismatic presence, and could literally take over a room when he performed with Fast & Cheap.”
Another group member, Professor of French Cynthia Hahn, said: “Whenever we played with Justin, his music made me feel as though I were ‘Sittin’ on top of the World,’ the name of one of the many tunes we had the pleasure of playing together."
In closing, I give the final word to Justin on his moments at Lake Forest: those assignments of “obstruction” that Justin requested of Don Meyer in his last semester.
In recalling the 40+ songs he wrote that semester, Justin said, “It was one of those times in my life where I was super-productive, and the development in my songwriting seemed to skyrocket in that moment. I was bringing my songs—sometimes pretty bad ones—to Don Meyer, this amazing musician and such an open-minded person, and one-on-one talking to him about how songs are written. I feel so privileged to have had that type of experience. Lake Forest was pretty special for that.”
To which I say, “Amen, brother.”
Catch The Okee Dokee Brothers and their family concert at Ravinia on Saturday, August 26 at 1 p.m.
Related Links:
- Stream Brambletown by The Okee Dokee Brothers on YouTube Music
- See The Okee Dokee Brothers tour schedule
- Learn more about Rand Smith