Description of Milk Carton Kids' Music:
Singer-songwriters, contemporary folk
Milk Carton Kids Lineup:
Joey Ryan - guitar, vocals
Kenneth Pattengale - guitar, vocals
Kenneth Pattengale - guitar, vocals
Comparisons:
Milk Carton Kids continue the long tradition of folk duos, with music focused just on two acoustic guitars and two voices. Fans of duos like the Indigo Girls, Simon & Garfunkel, and the like, will enjoy Milk Carton Kids' music. They may also be of interest to fans of singer-songwriters like Conor Oberst and indie folk bands like the Head and the Heart.
Recommended Milk Carton Kids Albums:
Prologue (Milk Carton Records) Due July 19, 2011
Milk Carton Kids Biography:
With nearly a dozen solo albums between them, Joey Ryan and Kenneth Pattengale came together in spring of 2011 to release their first collaborative album - a live disc titled Retrospect, which they offer for free to anyone who wants it, via their website. The disc pulls from each of their solo careers - surprising, since the songs come off as such cohesive collaborative efforts. Nonetheless, the disc raised enough eyebrows early in 2011 to inspire the duo's second release (also available for free download, as of July 19, 2011, via their website).
You'd be hard-pressed to find a standard bio on the pair, as they tend to be more interested in letting the music speak for itself. Still, as solo artists, the California-based duo have collaborated with the likes of Sarah Bareilles, Dave Rawlings, and more. The influences of their previous collaborations are audible in the Milk Carton Kids recordings, but more prominent is a sound all their own.
Their pairing as the Milk Carton Kids strips the songs down to a shocking and deceptive simplicity, rooted in intricate guitar picking arrangements and rather intuitive harmonies. As celebrated songwriter/producer Joe Henry says in the Foreward to their album Prologue:
I will confess here that upon first listen I became so seduced by the singular character that emerged from the songs, that I failed to register that there were actually two very different singers giving rise to him. Honest: I heard it all as if coming from one central figure who had a voice all his own, and that neither lead singer in the band could wholly claim or account for.
