The neo-traditional folk of The Milk Carton Kids is built on Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan’s intricate guitar and vocal interplay. After they started playing together in 2011, the duo released a live album, Retrospect, that highlights the duo’s natural rapport and a studio debut, Prologue, that showcases their craft. The latter, filled with hushed, timeless tunes like “Michigan”, established them as next-generation purveyors of an old-school sound. The resulting effect, which oscillates between haunted and playful, defines The Ash & Clay (2013) and Monterey (2015). They brought in a band to build the lush numbers on 2018’s All the Things That I Did and All the Things That I Didn’t Do, but they returned to a sparse intimacy with The Only Ones in 2019.