Husband and wife duo Michael Trotter, Jr. and Tanya Trotter are The War and Treaty. Their music explores their relationship as a married couple, and combines influences from soul, R&B, folk and spirituals, as well as Americana and traditional country music.
They received two Grammy nominations in 2024 for Best New Artist and Best American Roots for their song “Blank Page.” They have also received award nominations from the Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music. In addition, they are the first Black duo to receive the Duo of the Year Nomination from the Country Music Association.
Their collaborators have included Americana stars John Prine, Emmylou Harris, Buddy Miller, and Jason Isbell, among many others.
Prior to forming the band, Tanya was on the way to a successful career in R&B, with a song on the Billboard Hot 100. Michael had served in the Army, with two tours in Iraq, where he was wounded in battle. That’s also where he began his music career.
“I learned how to play piano in Baghdad, Iraq on a piano that was owned and played by Saddam Hussein,” he said. “And I learned how to do songwriting because the person that showed me about the piano was killed, and I wrote my first song about him. And that led me to the rest of my life, being a songwriter and musical artist.”
When the couple first performed together they were known as Trotter and Blunt, but went through many names before arriving at The War and Treaty.
Michael explained they were arguing about changing the name, for the eighth time, because he didn't still didn't feel connected to it.
“And in the midst of our arguing, Tanya could see that I was getting more and more frustrated with her bucking my decision. And her having the knowledge of me being a wounded war veteran, and one of my injuries is PTSD. My wife recognized that we were having a PTSD moment," he said.
"And she said to me in the most beautiful, calm and enticing voice, ‘Michael, this is not the war. And we need to come to some sort of treaty.’ And I said 'A-ha!' That’s the name of the band! The War and Treaty. And it does represent everything that we are. There is a time for war and there is time for a peace treaty.”
Tanya said their journey as African-Americans into Americana and country music is different from others.
“That’s what makes country music intriguing to us. And that’s why the country music industry has interest in us,” she said.
What is country music anyway?
“When you look at the term ‘country music,’ most people would say you’re talking about a pickup truck or fishing, the things that I grew up seeing all my family do in the Deep South of North Carolina. But [country music] has become something where one side of America has decided that ‘we take ownership in this," Tanya said.
"And then you have a Midwest family like Michael’s family, where 'country' is his father getting up everyday to go take care of his family. Or his grandfather who was a slave, and who worked and bought a home. These are the core principles of what it means to be an American.”
The couple has defied the Nashville standard in many ways, but Michael pointed out that labels like “country” or “soul music” can be misleading.
“Country music came from blues, so if we’re going to go the original thing we listen to blues. The most soulful person I’ve heard in my life is Ralph Stanley, bluegrass god. When you hear him sing “O Death” if you don’t feel anything from that, you ain’t got no damn heart," he said.
"What makes a thing country is instrumentation, not the person singing it.”
He continued: “The country music industry’s got a bigger problem that they’re fighting against. Were they using The War and Treaty to prove that they aren’t racist? Yes, they were. Do Michael and Tanya have their own agenda? Yes, we do. The agenda is fans, no matter who they are.”
When asked to describe their live show, the two energetically talk over each other: “We’re going to rock out — we’re going to unite — we’re going to make sure that when you leave that you didn’t leave the same way you came in — we’ll sing about hope and resilience.”
The War and Treaty perform at The Crocodile in Seattle on May 20.
