THEY'RE the roots rockers heading to Scotland for the first time – but don't make the mistake of lumping Houndmouth in with bands like Mumford & Sons.

The Kentucky quartet has been signed up by Rough Trade Records and are hotly tipped for mixing up blues, rock and country, calling to mind classic Americana acts like The Band.

But a recent comparison to Marcus Mumford's mob led to some raised eyebrows all round.

"There was something written that said we were the American Mumford & Sons, and that made me chuckle," says drummer Shane Cody.

"We're nothing like Mumford & Sons. We don't have a single acoustic instrument and there's no banjos with us."

Instead the group offer up bruising rock 'n' roll that's similar in tone to the likes of Alabama Shakes and the Black Keys. They play their first Scottish gig next Monday at King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, ahead of the release of debut album From The Hills Below The City in early June.

It's been a whirlwind year for the quartet, who'd only played a handful of gigs just over a year ago, and are now finding them-selves getting booked on US talk shows like Conan O' Brien.

That sort of fame is considerably different to their beginnings in the small town of New Albany in Indiana.

"In New Albany, there's not much of a music scene," explains Shane.

"There's a music store, and a music venue that only sprang up in the last six months. But we're not far away from Louisville, where there's a lot of great bands, so we were lucky that we were near there, and could get some shows."

All of the band were already playing in other bands when they decided to pool their resources, meaning each member brought their own songs to the group.

That led to all of the band taking lead vocals on songs, while they'd all decided that they wanted a classic raw sound.

It's a source of pride for Shane that they carried that approach over to their album, too.

"When we went in, we were just doing one or two takes on each song," he says.

"We wanted to be real and authentic, not some polished band that were using Protools to fiddle around with it. There's nothing wrong with taking time over a record, but we just wanted to be old school, and if there's a few mess-ups there then that's fine."

That style has already won them quite a few admirers, from Alabama Shakes inviting them on tour to being asked to perform at a special gig of a country legend.

"We got to go out to play at Willie Nelson's ranch as part of the South By South West festival," adds Shane.

"It's a place called Luck in Texas and it was the coolest thing I've ever done. He bought some land and built this old Western town on it for a film and then kept it , so there's a little bank, a jail and we got bourbon before playing.

"We had to leave right after we played to do more shows, but it was amazing."

While Shane dismisses any comparisons to the likes of Mumford & Sons, he's glad that the past couple of years have seen a surge in more traditional acts that strip music down to the bare bones again.

"It's great that roots and Americana are coming back," he adds.

"Most people love something like The Weight by The Band, and that sort of straightforward rock 'n' roll has been gone for a while. I'm glad that bands like Alabama Shakes and the Black Keys are bringing it back, and that we're a part of it.

"It wasn't like we decided to go for that sound though, it's just we've got a little twang in our voice."

Yet Shane's inspiration to pick up the drumsticks wasn't a classic rock hero, or even a pop act. It was one of the Muppets-

"I started on drums when I was 12 and Animal from the Muppets was a hero of mine when I was learning," he chuckles.

l Houndmouth, King Tut's, Monday, £6, 8:30pm.