CONTRIBUTED BY
SUNDILLA
AUBURN — The Rough & Tumble return to Sundilla on Friday, Feb. 6. Showtime at the AUUF located at 450 E. Thach Ave. in Auburn is 7:30 p.m. Advance tickets are just $20 and can be found at Spicer’s Music, Ross House Coffee and online at sundillaconcerts.com; admission at the door will be $25 and $15 for students. Free coffee, tea, water and food will be available, and the audience is invited to bring their favorite food or beverage.
Nine years ago Sundilla brought The Rough & Tumble to town with the prediction that they would “take the stage as unknowns and leave the stage as somebody’s new favorite.” Based on all of the “You can bring these guys back anytime,” comments heard after the show, it looks like they were right. Since then, The Rough & Tumble have only gotten better, and have added seven new CDs, a Listening Room Artist of the Year award and Official Showcases at both SERFA and Folk Alliance International to their already impressive resume.
The Rough & Tumble are as easy to detect as a stray dog on your doorstep — and as difficult to send home. The dumpster-folk, thriftstore-Americana duo, consisting of Mallory Graham and Scott Tyler, began hobbling around the country in their 16-foot camper in 2015, when their Nashville landlord left them without heat during an ice storm for 12 days. Then she tried to hike the rent. Enough was enough, and The Rough & Tumble gave their 30 days notice at their jobs and their lease, sold most of what they owned and hopped into their shoddily built camper, in spite of the lot salesman’s advice. They picked up a couple of actual strays along the way — two 100lb dogs, Puddle and Magpie Mae — and have been making themselves at home in living rooms, bars, theaters and festivals across the country.
Scott and Mallory have a special connection to this area. In 2020 they were living in a camper and touring the country; not homeless but true troubadours. But COVID-19 put a sudden end to the touring and they needed to put down temporary roots. Friends they had met along the way offered to let them stay in their house for as long as they needed, and so Scott, Mallory, their two dogs and their gerbil moved in. Videos for the album they had just released were recorded in that house, and on his 2025 solo instrumental album Scott included a song that he wrote at that house: “Opelika.”
“Their Americana music is restorative, their performance highly entertaining, their orchestra of unusual instruments intriguing and… jokes and stories are worthy of an HBO special,” said Linda Bolton of Cozy Cabin House Concerts.” And Red Line Roots said “…they sure as hell are peaking high and mighty in this music and songwriting game.”
“The Rough & Tumble make music that’s progressive folk style, rooted in acoustic bluegrass, with lyrics that are provocative and sensitive on each side as you flip the coin,” — Americana Highways.
“Believe it or not, this duo has made a record that is neither dogma nor doctrine, for the religious or the irreligious, for the good the bad and the in between. Everybody’s welcome,” — Dean Nardi, American, United Kingdom.
“…They sure as hell are peaking high and mighty in this music and songwriting game,” — Brian Carroll, Red Line Roots, September 2019.
“There are plenty of acoustic songscapes that will pleasure fans of the likes of Nanci Griffith… while other songs have an elegance and emotional craft to the lyrics which stand shoulder to shoulder with master songsmiths such as Gretchen Peters or Guy Clark,” — Americana UK, May 2023.
“Wow, what an appealing package. High-quality originals in all sorts of traditional veins, from haunting ballads to stomping, screaming folk anthems. All performed with expert, polished musicianship and flawless ensemble. Amazing array of instruments (a few you will never have encountered before, I bet), and attention to musical detail, without a trace of pretension or preciousness. The vocals are a pleasure — natural yet perfectly executed. The whole effect seems fun and blithely effortless,” — M. McLeod, Empty Nest Concerts, Maplewood, New Jersey.
“I laughed my ass off, I cried buckets. By the third song I realized, I need to pace myself,” — Aubrey, Reidsville, North Carolina.
The Rough & Tumble’s website is www.theroughandtumble.com/.
