You Break My Heart is classic country in terms of subject matter but it also captures the spirit of Hank Williams and releases it gently. “This’ll be the last time we’re gonna walk a straight line… this’ll be the last time we’re gonna have a big time” might be drawing a line, but at least there’s a good send off before any new beginnings. Big Time makes full use of the fiddle and pulls the band into slightly more upbeat territory. They might suggest that the world is cold, but there’s warmth in those harmonies. Yet, as apocalyptic as the song sounds, Ryan and Pattengale’s beautifully entwined vocals offer comfort. If the house band at the Last Chance Saloon were playing this at last orders, there’d be no doubt that once that final shot of whisky is finished, the end is waiting just the other side of the bar’s exit sign. A mournful shuffle with ghostly interjections from the pedal steel, it gets under your skin before heading into a lengthy and hypnotic jam section that The Doors would have been proud of. Sprawling and heartbreaking, it finds the pair utilising nuance wonderfully. The centrepiece of the album is the 10-minute epic One More For The Road. The expanded sound suits them perfectly, giving them wider scope and allowing the duo to realise their artistic vision. Long term fans of the duo shouldn’t panic about Ryan and Pattengale’s decision to bring a band onboard, for their music is still just as delicate and intricate as it ever was. A wealth of upheaval and experience to draw on should provide a firm basis for a classic album, and The Milk Carton Kids don’t disappoint. As a group, The Milk Carton Kids have expanded from a duo to a full band for their latest album, All The Things I Did And All The Things That I Didn’t Do. 2020.Adversity and change have long provided the impetus for country music and since The Milk Carton Kids’ last album, Monterey, the duo have gone through a number of life changing events Joey Ryan welcomed his second child into the world, whilst Kenneth Pattengale overcame cancer and went through the breakup of his seven-year relationship. this fall on the "A Night with the Milk Carton Kids in Very Small Venues at Very Low Ticket Prices Tour," before heading to the U.K. 18 on the band's Milk Carton Records in partnership with Thirty Tigers. The Milk Carton Kids' latest album, The Only Ones, is due for release Oct. Armed with their own unique and awkward desert-dry wit, they show why they've been twice tapped to host the annual Americana Music Association's Honors & Awards, and why they have become the genre's most endearing export. "I lose sleep at night like a young man losing the fight of his young life." On "Sea of Roses," Kenneth sings alone before Joey brings harmony and comfort to a man pleading to the universe to not to have to die alone. With life's heavy saddle, the members rode into songs about vanishing youth, "Younger Years" and "Mourning in America," a song about social and political despair, "Hope of a Lifetime" that Kenneth wrote about a break up, and the devastating power and beauty of "Sea of Roses," which Kenneth wrote about his recent (and successful) bout with cancer during the making of their record. Playing 1950s guitars - Pattengale actually just got a new Martin signature guitar named for him in July - and singing like 1970s Simon and Garfunkel procreating with Crosby and Stills, The Milk Carton Kids are kids no longer. "There are more instruments on their album, but you don't need any more instruments than their two voices and their two guitars," Mountain Stage host Larry Groce said. Back on June 9, 2019, The Milk Carton Kids made its fourth appearance on Mountain Stage, heard here. Playing songs off their Joe Henry-produced album, All The Things That I Did and All The Things That I Didn't Do, Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan prove it just takes two voices and two guitars to be a one-band folk revival.
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