While The Milk Carton Kids' most obvious frame of musical reference is the classic folk sound of twin acoustic guitars and close harmonies, the band both expand and contradict that rich legacy. The music strikes listeners immediately with its sweet, bluegrass-inflected simplicity, but underneath snake Kenneth Pattengale's sinuous modal guitar lines, sounding for all the world like a jazzified Bert Jansch dropped in to jam with the Everly Brothers. The harmonies of Pattengale and Joey Ryan, while recalling classic brother duos from the Louvins to the Everlys, achieve a richness that blends into a vivid unit. The New York Times praises The Milk Carton Kids as "a sweetly dazzling variation on close-harmony vocals, part Simon and Garfunkel and part Everly Brothers, with occasional acoustic prestidigitation."