The Milk Carton Kids w/ Humbird at The Iron Horse

Name: The Milk Carton Kids w/ Humbird at The Iron Horse
Start: 2025-12-20T19:00:00-05:00
Location: 18 Center St., Northampton, MA, United States, Massachusetts 01060

Schedule

Sat, 20 Dec, 2025 at 07:00 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

18 Center St., Northampton, MA, United States, Massachusetts 01060 | Northampton, MA

The Milk Carton Kids – Holiday Tour 2025
w/ Humbird
at The Iron Horse
Saturday, December 20th
Pre-Show Bar/Event Queue: 5:00pm [Click for more information about our Lounge]
Event Doors: 6:00pm
Show: 7:00pm
TICKETS STARTING AT: $67.20
includes all fees
This is a Seated show.
Accessible seating is available; please contact us at 413-200-0425 or [email protected] for more information.
Founded in 2011, The Milk Carton Kids — Joey Ryan and Kenneth Pattengale — swiftly emerged as a major force in the American folk tradition, blending ethereal harmonies and intricate musicianship with a uniquely powerful brand of contemporary songcraft. Their 2013 debut The Ash & Clay marked their national breakthrough, earning them their first Grammy Award nomination for Best Folk Album. Another Grammy nomination followed in 2015 for Best American Roots Performance with "The City of Our Lady" from their acclaimed third studio album, Monterey, and their 2018 album All The Things That I Did and All The Things That I Didn't Do received a Grammy nomination for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. Their most recent album, 2019's The Only Ones, garnered extensive praise, with Rolling Stone highlighting that "Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan get back to the beautiful basics with The Only Ones," while NPR's "World Café" noted that "even though Joey and Kenneth are not related, their voices together create a sibling-like harmony…the duo has a strong sense of respect and reverence for the musical traditions that they've grown from.
The Milk Carton Kids were nominated for "Best Folk Album" for their new record I Only See The Moon at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards. This marked the group's fourth Grammy nomination.
I Only See The Moon is out now to critical acclaim on Far Cry Records in partnership with Thirty Tigers.
"Both of us have now lived enough life to understand that maybe one of the purposes we were put on Earth for is to sing together, to write songs together, to make music together," notes guitarist/vocalist Kenneth Pattengale. "It has truly provided a direction for our lives." Ryan adds, "It's like a successful marriage in that there's always been enough there between us collaboratively in the way that we work together, sing together, play together. It's a very special thing. And I don't think we ever took that for granted."
It feels good to be right. We crave the satisfaction, the ease. But what about when you’re not so sure? When you’re unsteady, angry, swayable, and doing your damned best anyway?
There’s something refreshingly humane about that uncertainty; about having the guts to try, even if you might be wrong. This is the central tenant of Humbird’s third full-length album, Right On, a radical ethos in this soap-box age, and an effort worth turning up the amps for, resulting in the project’s most electric, playful, mettled record yet.
Siri Undlin (the songwriter behind the moniker) and her collaborators tracked live and to tape over the course of two muggy weeks in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. For a collection of songs unafraid of ambiguity, it’s music that bares its teeth. Anger and dismay sizzle in response to current events. Heartbreak feels like sandpaper, while wildflowers bob and sway in an ever-expanding universe.
Produced by Shane Leonard and featuring regular contributors Pat Keen (bass, synth, percussion) and Pete Quirsfeld (drums and percussion), the majority of the songs showcase the locked-in rock trio, a progression from the contemplative folk musings of Undlin’s previous releases. Even so, Right On incorporates friendly winks to the more whimsical, soundscape-y improvisations that audiences have come to expect from a Humbird performance - electrified, gritty, Midwest Americana with a little magic fairy dust thrown in.