The Milk Carton Kids

Two voices, two guitars

Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan are both singer-guitarists, and their close harmonies and picking have been compared to Simon and Garfunkel. Pattengale studied cello and Ryan clarinet, and both are largely self-taught on guitar and voice. By one account they met at the Hotel Cafe in Los Angeles in December 2009, and by another Ryan attended a Pattengale solo show in Eagle Rock; both had had little success as soloists. They began on Pattengale's porch, trading solo songs and arranging them for two voices. The name comes from an early song, "Milk Carton Kid", adopted in the plural. They perform in suits and ties; Ryan says it makes the show feel sacred, like a wedding or a funeral. Ryan plays a 1951 Gibson J-45 tuned down a whole step and Pattengale a 1954 Martin 0-15. Their stated influences include Simon and Garfunkel, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, the Everly Brothers, Randy Newman, Radiohead and Tom Waits.

A live album, Retrospect, was recorded at Zoey's Cafe in Ventura in March 2011, and Prologue followed on July 19, 2011, both as free downloads that reached about 60,000 by the end of 2011 and 275,000 by February 2014. The Ash and Clay (March 26, 2013, ANTI-) brought a Grammy nomination for best contemporary folk album, followed by Monterey (May 19, 2015), All the Things That I Did and All the Things That I Didn't Do (June 29, 2018), The Only Ones (October 18, 2019) and I Only See the Moon (May 19, 2023, produced by Pattengale), which was nominated for the same Grammy in 2024. Grammy.com lists three nominations and no wins, while Wikipedia counts four. A tenth-anniversary Prologue box set in 2021 has three LPs and a 32-page booklet with an essay by Kim Ruehl.