Mallory Graham and Scott Tyler formed The Rough & Tumble in 2011. Photo courtesy of Mallory Graham.
Nashville-based recording duo Mallory Graham and Scott Tyler, better known as The Rough & Tumble, will be performing at the Concerts in the Courtyard series in Lansing on Thursday, Sept. 21.
The series, which is a set of eight concerts each summer in the heart of Lansing’s Old Town at the Old Town General Store, showcases an array of local acts and talent from across the country.
Concerts are held in the courtyard of the general store at 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays. The store will shut down at 7 p.m., however, according to Old Town General Store sales associate Sue Dyer, they usually keep the store open to customers until show time. She even said sometimes there's wine and hard cider tasting before the concerts begin.
“The concerts are usually about two hours long,” said Dyer. “It’s usually a lot of fun. We have a good turnout and it’s becoming more and more popular.”
The Rough & Tumble, a folk-Americana band, has been active for six years. After finally amending five years of so-called musical tension, Graham and Tyler formed the band officially in 2011.
“We feel like everyone we’ve told that we’re going to be playing this particular series, everybody seems pretty pumped about it,” said Graham. “It seems like it’s a really good series.”
In 2013, the duo released their debut LP, “The Rough & Tumble’s Holiday Awareness Campaign" a 24 song project that showcases the band’s versatility, alternating between a hybrid of alternative rock, folk and country music. The band is influenced by their listening habits, which includes Regina Spektor, James Taylor and popular 90’s music.
“I think you find inspiration in lots of different ways,” Tyler said.
In 2015, the two announced to the world that they had fallen in love, moved into an RV together and began touring the country. It’s been their game plan ever since.
“It doesn’t sound very natural to sell everything you own and give up your house and move into a camper full-time,” said Graham. “But at the time, when we decided to do that – two and a half years ago – it seemed like the most normal and the most clear path for us at the time.”
The band has released two more projects since, 2016’s “Pieces to Pieces” and February 2017’s “Cardboard and Christmas Lights." The title track from the former has become the band’s magnum opus, delving deep into the topics of women in war, PTSD and the volatility of human relations. It was written for an Alyssa Pearson short film of the same name that has yet to be released.
The future has a lot in store for the up-and-coming band. The Rough & Tumble has an album coming out with the expected release sometime in January 2018 that will be recorded after they finish touring and return to Nashville.
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