Joe Mailander (left) and Justin Lansing (Photos courtesy of Alex Johnson)

The Okee Dokee Brothers have known each other a long time. There have been many ups and down in their 23-year friendship and they’ve learned a few things.

“You can either paddle upstream and run out of steam, as the lyrics [of “Brother”] say, or you can just let it roll and see where the river takes you,” says Joe Mailander, one half of the band. “Life calls for both of those things in certain circumstances.”

Last year, Mailander and Justin Lansing let the Mississippi river take them on a 30-day trip from Minneapolis to St. Louis. “We’d been taking road trips up and down the river doing shows,” Mailander says. “It seemed obvious to take a month-long trip to focus” on songwriting and down-to-earth music without any real-world interference.

The result is the duo’s recently released CD/DVD set Can You Canoe?, with songs based on their experiences of the trip and the inspiration of the river.

Mailander and Lansing weren’t new to canoeing. They grew up together and have taken long canoe trips on the Boundary Waters in Minnesota. Mailander says they weren’t experts, but their camping and canoeing experience helped on this trip. “It’s not as daunting as it may seem,” he says. “It’s pretty accessible, that Mississippi River.”

Since the Okee Dokee Brothers are full-time musicians, scheduling a month to paddle wasn’t hard to do. They spent a lot of time planning the logistics of the trip by reading books and blogs from folks who have paddled the Mississippi before. They talked with people to find out how to go through the locks and dams along the river and how much weight could be carried in a canoe. Their sponsor, Wilderness Inquiry, was an incredible resource, Mailander says.

Next came the creative preparation. Much of the brainstorming happened before the trip even started. They studied up on old Mississippi River songs in the public domain and used them as a jumping off point for some of the songs that ended up on the album.

“The river to us is a much longer period of time than the 30 days we were on the river itself,” says Mailander.

The friends took along two others on the trip: one person filming for the DVD and the other an outdoor expert “who is more a common sense voice of reason who kept us from drowning,” Mailander says.

Seven to eight hours a day was spent paddling. When the paddling stopped, there were tents to set up, dinner to cook and songs to write. There was no actual plan since Mailander and Lansing had heard from so many others that if you make a plan, it would certainly change. Some nights they stayed at campsites with picnic tables and other nights, it was on islands in the middle of the river.

Both of the “brothers” contributed to the songwriting for the album. “Every song has a little bit of each other in it,” Mailander says. “I always run my songs by Justin and he always runs his songs by me. It’s definitely a lot of teamwork going on.”

The songs were written on the trip, mostly in the evening after a day of paddling. But sometimes the pair was just floating in the canoe and were able to take out a notebook or an instrument and expound on an idea or inspiration. There wasn’t much worry about water damaging their instruments — they took backpacking instruments that were smaller and less expensive than the instruments they use on stage. Mailander says his guitar and Lansing’s banjo were sealed plastic bags inside their cases.

A highlight of the trip for the two was meeting people along the way. “There were such great folks we ran into who showed great hospitality and kindness,” he says. “They told us great stories about the river. That’s probably what I take away the most, the community that took us in.”

Well, that and the jumping in the river.

“We had a pretty good time when we were paddling in different directions,” Mailander says of the silliness showed in the video. “We took a couple of takes [for the DVD] where we fell off the canoe. It was pretty enjoyable to get that old-timey acting in there and jump off the canoe in the river.”

The silliness continued into the evening hours, after long days of paddling. The two were weary when they had their friend pull out the video camera while they were shoving as many marshmallows as possible into their mouths and trying to say “chubby bunnies.” “We were pretty tired for chubby bunnies,” Mailander laughs. “We hadn’t showered in a couple of days and it was late at night. Complete delirium is a pretty good term for it.”

Mailander is taking away memories and lessons from his trip with Lansing. He hopes the lessons are conveyed in the songs on Can You Canoe?

In “Muddy River,” the lyrics mention that there’s always a bigger fish up ahead. “It’s hard to be in the present moment,” he says. “We talk about the current of the river and being OK with where you are instead of looking ahead around the bend.”

Kids listening to the album also should take away a sense of adventure. They don’t need to plan a canoe trip, Mailander laughs, but be adventurous in their everyday lives. He says, “You can be creative and think outside the box no matter what you are doing.”

The message applies not just to the children, but to their parents. “Raise kids in a non-traditional, non-conventional way; see what kind of adventures you can find for yourselves,” Mailander says. “Go out there and do your thing and be creative doing it.

The Okee Dokees are already thinking about the next adventure album in the series. They’ve been brainstorming and researching hiking the Appalachian Trail. They’re hoping to take their trip in May 2013 and release a new record around the same time in 2014.

Find out more about the Okee Dokee Brothers and purchase Can You Canoe? at www.okeedokee.org.