NPR'S 'FIRST LISTEN' PREMIERES THE MILK CARTON KIDS’ ALBUM MONTEREY

 

 

 

The Milk Carton Kids are Joey Ryan and Kenneth Pattengale — with two guitars, two voices, two suits, and one microphone, looking like they stepped off the stage at some 50s Greenwich Village cellar. But their sound reflects a thoroughly modern sensibility, a dark lyricism that beats against the intense beauty of their voices. “Their harmonies, their melodies, so breathtaking… It's hard to overstate how beautiful the music of the Milk Carton Kids is,” proclaims Robin Hilton on NPR’s All Songs Considered. Monterey, The Village Voice declares, is “the first record to distill [The Milk Carton Kids’] talents, truly, and capture them in their comfort zone.” 

 

It’s a sound that strikes a nerve with disaffected teenagers hearing it for the first time and older folks nostalgic for the harmonies of the Everly’s and the sardonic wit of the Smothers. Featured in the Coen Brothers' 2014 concert documentary, Another Day/Another Time, TMCK’s folk hymn "Snake Eyes” brings tears to the eyes of Marcus Mumford and a smile to T Bone Burnett, while TMCK's interview segments provide a hilarious levity to a genre beset by reverence for the past: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=34&v=-hQZyeMLMag

 

NPR's First Listen is premiering the Los Angeles alt-folk duo's new album, Monterey, due out May 19th. Listen here NPR .  Writing for First Listen, Stephen Thompson credits the band’s unorthodox method of recording the album on stages across North America while on tour with giving Monterey a sense of being "lived-in, airy, comfortable, human,” a step forward from the “gorgeous… [if] a little too impeccable” sound of the band’s previous recordings. 

 

The band has just announced a Fall headlining tour of North America in support of the new album. The duo will be performing in the largest and most prestigious venues of their career; from New York City’s Town Hall, to Los Angeles’s Theatre at Ace Hotel, to Atlanta’s Symphony Hall, the ideal settings have been chosen to enable the duo to replicate the nuances and dynamics of their stirring new album.

 

The meticulously curated dates will provide established fans and newcomers alike beautiful settings in which to experience The Milk Carton Kids.

 

North American Fall Tour Dates:

9/7/15 Northampton, MA - Academy of Music Theatre
9/8/15 Boston, MA - Berklee Performance Center
9/9/15 Philadelphia, PA - Keswick Theatre
9/10/15 Washington, D.C. - Lisner Auditorium
9/11/15 New York, NY - Town Hall
9/12/15 Brevard, NC - Mountain Song Festival
9/13/15 Durham, NC - Carolina Theatre
9/15/15 Knoxville, TN - Bijou Theatre
9/17/15 Louisville, KY - Bomhard Theatre
9/18/15 Columbus, OH - Lincoln Theatre
9/30/15 Santa Barbara, CA - Lobero Theatre
10/1/15 Los Angeles, CA - The Theatre at Ace Hotel
10/4/15 Chico, CA - Laxson Auditorium
10/5/15 Portland, OR - Newmark Theatre
10/6/15 Seattle, WA - Moore Theatre
10/7/15 Vancouver, BC - Vogue Theatre
10/9/15 Edmonton, AB - Winspear Centre Concert Hall
10/10/15 Calgary, AB - Central United Church
10/28/15 Toronto, ON - Queen Elizabeth Theatre
10/29/15 Ann Arbor, MI - The Ark
10/30/15 Chicago, IL - Fourth Presbyterian Church
10/31/15 Grand Rapids, MI - Covenant Fine Arts Center
11/2/15 St. Paul, MN - Fitzgerald Theater
11/3/15 Madison, WI - Barrymore Theatre
11/4/15 St. Louis, MO - Sheldon Concert Hall
11/5/15 Nashville, TN - James K. Polk Theater
11/6/15 Atlanta, GA - Symphony Hall
11/9/15 Asheville, NC - Diana Wortham Theatre
11/10/15 Charleston, NC - Charleston Music Hall
12/1/15 San Francisco, CA - The Palace of Fine Arts
12/2/15 Napa, CA - Uptown Theatre
12/3/15 Arcata, CA - Van Duzer Theatre
12/5/15 San Diego, CA - Balboa Theatre
12/7/15 Mesa, AZ - Ikeda Theatre
12/8/15 Santa Fe, NM - The Lensic
12/9/15 Boulder, CO - Boulder Theater
12/11/15 Dallas, TX - Majestic Theater
12/13/15 Austin, TX - Paramount Theatre