The Milk Carton Kids

Formed in early 2011 by Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan, the Milk Carton Kids arose as a neo-traditional folk duo based in Los Angeles. The pair set aside their separate careers to launch a joint effort built around vocal harmonies, interlocking acoustic guitars, and songwriting steeped in roots traditions. Their initial pair of releases—the live recording Retrospect and the studio album Prologue—appeared later that same year, coinciding with the start of a steady touring routine. Onstage they became recognized for comedic exchanges reminiscent of the Smothers Brothers alongside Pattengale’s detailed fingerpicking and Ryan’s precise rhythm guitar. The project incorporated a backing band for the first time on the 2018 fourth studio album All the Things That I Did and All the Things That I Didn't Do. Later efforts, such as 2023’s I Only See the Moon, returned to a more stripped-down format.

Early on, although reviewers likened the Milk Carton Kids to Simon & Garfunkel, the Civil Wars, and the Everly Brothers, their spare, rustic songs aligned more closely with the duets of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. Pattengale and Ryan therefore directed their promotional efforts toward Americana audiences. After serving as both opening act and backing musicians for Joe Purdy on a spring 2011 tour and closing the year with a slot on NPR’s roots-oriented concert series Mountain Stage, the duo spent much of 2012 traveling alongside other folk-leaning artists such as Old Crow Medicine Show and the Lumineers. Their second studio album, The Ash & Clay, came out in 2013 on the ANTI- label and was promoted by an appearance on the long-running television program Austin City Limits. The band also took part in the 2013 documentary Another Day, Another Time: Celebrating the Music of Inside Llewyn Davis, which drew inspiration from the Coen brothers’ film. In 2014 ANTI-/Epitaph issued the concert DVD Live from Lincoln Theatre, captured the previous September; The Ash & Clay earned a Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album; and the duo received the Group of the Year honor at the Americana Music Awards.

Following further extensive road work and songwriting while traveling, the pair chose to lay down tracks for their third album during live sessions in empty venues before shows across North America. Roughly half the material was ultimately captured at Downtown Presbyterian Church in Nashville, with every performance preserving the natural reverberation of its location. The resulting Monterey appeared in May 2015 and brought the duo a Grammy nomination for Best American Roots Performance for the track “The City of Our Lady.”

After Monterey the two eased their touring schedule. Pattengale took on additional production assignments in Nashville, while Ryan, who welcomed a second child, contributed production work to Chris Thile’s radio program Live from Here, formerly known as A Prairie Home Companion. The Milk Carton Kids resurfaced in 2018 with the Joe Henry-produced All the Things That I Did and All the Things That I Didn't Do, an album that expanded sonically through the addition of supporting musicians for the first time; participants included bassist Dennis Crouch, drummer Jay Bellerose, and Wilco’s Pat Sansone on piano and Hammond organ. The record received a Grammy nomination for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. The following year they issued the more intimate The Only Ones and supported it with a tour of small venues. Live from Lincoln Theatre received a vinyl edition in July 2020, and December of that year brought Live from Symphony Hall, documenting a June 2015 performance in Atlanta, Georgia.

With Pattengale serving as producer for the first time and utilizing a newly built studio in Los Angeles, the duo proceeded deliberately on their sixth studio album, beginning work in the latter half of 2021. During this period they marked the tenth anniversary of Prologue with a reissue that included more than a dozen additional demos and live recordings. I Only See the Moon was ultimately released in May 2023 on Far Cry Records/Thirty Tigers. Largely a duo recording, the album added a string ensemble solely on the title track.