The Milk Carton Kids Put Harmonies Front & Center With ‘A Friend Like You’ On ‘Kimmel’

The Milk Carton Kids brought their stripped-down sound to Jimmy Kimmel Live on Wednesday. Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan performed “A Friend Like You” from their 2026 album Lost Cause Lover Fool.

Dressed in their familiar formal stage attire, Pattengale and Ryan sang and played acoustic guitars around a single old-school microphone. The minimally designed set kept the focus on the duo and their signature vocal harmonies.

“A Friend Like You” was the lead single from Lost Cause Lover Fool, which arrived April 24 via Far Cry Records in partnership with Thirty Tigers. The Milk Carton Kids described the ballad as being about “desperately trying to stay a little longer inside a fragile moment.”

The performance marked the duo’s latest appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live. The Milk Carton Kids last visited the show in January 2025, when they joined Vera Sola for “Waiting (Again).”

Watch The Milk Carton Kids perform “A Friend Like You” on Jimmy Kimmel Live below:

The Milk Carton Kids launch their Lost Cause Lover Fool Tour on September 15 at the Bijou Theatre in Knoxville, Tennessee. The extensive trek continues through North America this fall before heading to the UK and Ireland in January 2027.