If you’d asked Joey Ryan and Kenneth Pattengale, co-founding members of the elegant acoustic duo, The Milk Carton Kids, in October, during the release of their latest LP, The Only Ones, if they’d like to participate in digital live stream concerts, they would have thumbed their noses. The duo is notoriously suspect of any performance that isn’t tactile, in the room. But things change. A pandemic has befallen the globe. Enter: the duo’s new online series, Sad Songs Comedy Hour, which features music from the band, guest appearances and charitable donations to organizations helping amidst the health crisis.
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“For me, the most surprising thing about the show,” says Ryan, “has been just how meaningful doing a little 10-minute digital episode with our friends has become.”
Ryan and Pattengale, who are currently living in different cities – Ryan in Los Angeles and Pattengale in Nashville – had regularly hosted their variety show, Sad Songs Comedy Hour, in-person in Los Angeles at Largo, a venue famous for hosting both music and comedy acts. The band often likes to offset their often-sincere music with jokes, Ryan says. But when the Coronavirus pandemic struck, the band’s manager asked if the duo could put their show online.
“We wanted to contribute in whatever way we could,” Ryan says. “That felt like raising money for charities. The other thing that we knew quickly was that we were going to miss a sense of community and collaboration.”
Ryan said he’s surprised at how much gratitude the show’s viewers have for the new series. It’s almost off-putting, he jokes. Ryan is not acclimated to this type of heartfelt attention. Because The Milk Carton Kids’ music is so sincere, the band often tries to keep their banter light, rich with mutual ribbing and teasing. But that space has recently been filled by a common earnestness.
“So much of the way we approach folk music,” Ryan says, “is with a little bit of subversiveness, trying not to take it too seriously, especially since our songs are so sad and serious. But everyone’s response to the show has been so positive.”
Ryan tells the story of Pattengale’s recent birthday. Ryan says he hopped on the band’s Twitter account and posed as Pattengale, writing that he was feeling “lonely” and that he’d love to hear from fans on his special day. The response, though, Ryan says, was so overwhelmingly supportive; it almost baffled him.
“That’s been the response to every video we put up,” he says. “People are happy that art is still being put into the world. That’s affected me really deeply.”
Though the show is short (anywhere between four- and 14-minutes), Ryan says planning and making it gives him a sense of much-needed purpose. The regularity, the fan response, booking the guests (like singers Cécile McLorin Salvant or Sarah Jarosz), planning the songs – coordinating all of these moving parts gives him something to focus on that might not otherwise be there in this odd time of global quarantine.
“Even though it doesn’t require many hours a week to do,” Ryan says, “it’s something that makes me feel productive, like I’m moving forward. It feels like we’re doing our part, raising money for organizations who are actually doing the good, vital work.”
When considering the pandemic and its social, political and economic repercussions, the future for many can seem bleak. And the future for touring entertainers who rely on large audiences can seem even bleaker. But, at this time, there are still no answers for the many lingering questions, no concrete projections of what the future may look like. In the mean time, Ryan says, the band is just trying to make the best of each day amidst the wonderings.
“I really want to hold onto the idea that this is all temporary,” he says. “But one of my great fears is that we all get a little too used to this and maybe forget how special it can be together.”
When Ryan and Pattengale first met and collaborated nearly a decade ago, there was an a-ha moment between them. Immediately both knew their futures were intertwined. In fact, when each undertakes the process of writing a new song, it’s often started alone but it’s often finished in tandem, together. For a band that exploded with possibility the moment they met, there’s a pause on their normal mode of production. But the members are not giving up. Not by a long shot. And until things are back to normal, there’s always their endearing web series.
“I’ve been writing a lot and finishing very little,” Ryan says. “I’m desperate to find a way to perform live for people, in person, in a way that’s safe. And as soon as it’s possible, we’ll be back out there.”
