Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan were doing just fine as solo performers. Then one night, Ryan walked into a bar where Pattengale was playing.
“I heard Kenneth perform a song that he had written from the perspective of a dead dog, only very recently having been hit by a truck,” Ryan says, wryly. “And it was that sort of uplifting material that drew us together.”
Now, they’re a duo: The Milk Carton Kids. They have been compared to Simon & Garfunkel for their close-harmony vocals and songs that are precise, softly uttered poems. And when they banter, they sound a bit like a long-married couple.