War And The Treaty Are 'Proud To Be A Part' Of Country Music's Changing Narrative

War and Treaty will have you believe.

Whether you're playing to industry insiders at Clive Davis' exclusive Grammy Awards warm-up, to those in attendance at the Country Music Association Awards, or to the Newport Jazz festival crowd, precedent shows that almost everyone in any given audience will have stood at the their feet by the time the husband and wife act complete one of their explosive, moving, stylish and deeply spiritual sets.

“Fans will come up to us afterwards and say, 'I don't know what I just experienced, but something happened to me while I was listening to you,'” says Tanya Trotter, the duo's better half. Universal Music Group Nashville (UMGN) CEO Cindy Mabe became one of those fans the first time she saw The War and Treaty, in 2022. “I was filming and crying at the same time,” she recalls. “I went home talking only about this band.” On the same day, Mabe signed into law the first major corporation agreement. Since then, this year's Country Power Players Groundbreaker has continued to expand the genre with riveting and endless inflation — even if country radio has yet to catch on.

Both Michael, 42, and Tanya, 50, started singing in church before reaching double figures. Michael has a video of himself singing “If Anybody Asks You Who I Am” standing on the church organ bench at just 3 years old. These early experiences translated into a lifelong love of music and performing for both, although their path to The War and Treaty was by no means linear. Tanya (née Blount) had a modest solo career in the 1990s after a cameo in Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit Singing alongside Lauryn Hill, including a track that cracked the Billboard Hot 100 in 1994. Cleveland native Michael dabbled in rap, influenced by the success of local heroes Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, before eventually enlisting in the Army in 2003. While serving two tours in Iraq, he composed songs for his fallen comrades, even winning a “Military Idol Contest.”

The couple met shortly after Michael returned stateside — fittingly, at an arts festival where he was trying to launch a solo career. Tanya had long since moved away from music and was working as a worship leader. the couple married and had a son, Legend (yes, named after John), in 2011. They didn't realize the power of their combined voices until several years later, while recording a demo of a song Michael had written for Tanya's brother. A friend heard it and basically demanded that they continue making music together.

This duo in 2014 opened their eyes to a world of musical possibilities, but their path forward was not easy or clear. Michael still struggles with PTSD — at times so severe that he has said he contemplated suicide — and the couple have also dealt with homelessness. Musically, they first found a home in Americana: In 2018, Thirty Tigers distributed their second album, Healing Tide, which featured a collaboration with Emmylou Harris, and have won three Americana Music Awards. As the duo's star continued to rise, major labels came calling, leading to the pair's signing to UMGN and then their debut, in 2023 The lover's gameproduced by Dave Cobb.

Last year, The War and Treaty was one of two country acts nominated for the Grammys' Best New Artist category. the other was Jelly Roll, whom the Trotters consider a peer in making the genre more inclusive. “The space we occupied was very important,” says Michael. “The two artists who represent the genre were not representative of the genre at all, if we're being completely transparent. You have Jelly Roll, a ragged-faced rapper who can sing a little, and Mike and Tanya, these black, overweight, gospel-trained singers. Country music is actively trying to attack the narrative it's created, and I'm proud to be a part of that change.”

Although they call themselves outliers on the still-too-homogeneous Music Row, the Trotters say their peers in Nashville have strongly supported them. It started with Dierks Bentley – who invited them to join him on stage for their first appearance at the country awards in 2021 and included them on a live album shortly after – and continued with Keith Urban, Miranda Lambert and Chris Stapleton, for which the duo will open. three dates in May. Zach Bryan asked the Trotters to sing with him on his self-titled album after hearing them at the 2023 Academy of Country Music Awards, like everyone else. The resulting song, “Hey Driver,” reached No. 14 on the Hot 100 — The War and Treaty's highest chart entry to date — and the act will open Bryan's three-night arena run in Los Angeles in June, winning inevitably even more fans.

Michael and Tanya are relentlessly positive, but they won't ignore the obvious. “How about Mickey Guyton?” says Michalis. “It all starts with her saying, 'This is what country music looks like.' With Beyoncé Cowboy Carter shining a new spotlight on country music's long history of racial exclusion, the duo readily acknowledges the work that remains to rectify that past. (Beyoncé reached out to the Trotters afterwards Cowboy Carterreleased but I didn't seek to work with them.) “Have we experienced it?” Tanya asks. “Of course we have. Do we see it in crowds? Of course we do.”

But they persist in pressing forward. “We were kind of a healing balm, and I'm not going to let anyone take that away from Tanya and me,” says Michael. “We've been put on the road not to check a box, but literally because we've influenced some of the most powerful artists in our genre today.”

“My purpose is to really expand what country music is and always has been,” says UMGN's Mabe. “Finding them was like finding a needle in a haystack. It's an evolution of a form… Absolutely, we'll get there eventually [bringing them to] country radio.”

This impact has been made because of the way Michael and Tania faithfully translate their gospel into powerful, generous and agnostic performances. “When you think of a gospel sound, you think of that sense of urgency — no matter what my message is,” says Michael. “That sense that I need you to understand what I'm saying, that's what we're looking for. When one catches hold of that good truth, he goes out with that roar and that fire.” However, there is no scorched earth in the wake of the Trotters, only the one thing they care about evangelizing: love.

This story will appear in the May 11, 2024 issue Advertising sign.