The War and Treaty Are Writing Their Love Story Into Country Music History

New York Times

13-02-2025

There's a dressing room backstage at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville called 'It Takes Two' that's filled with photos of some of country music's most famous duos. It's Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter's favorite spot to get ready before they perform there as the War and Treaty, which is so often, they've lost count. They hope to become members someday. (It's on Tanya's vision board.) And they don't want to just be inducted. They want to be the first Black artists on that wall.
'How about right over there, by Marty Stuart and Connie Smith?' Michael, 42, said last month while laying across his wife's lap in a pair of leather trousers, their bodies forming a plus sign.
Tanya, 52, shook her head while patting the top of her husband's, the pair's offstage chemistry mirroring their onstage warmth. 'I like that big blank wall,' she replied, indicating a bare corner where they could pioneer their own space.
This has long been the War and Treaty's approach in Nashville: working within the genre's traditions while building something new for people who have rarely seen themselves in country music. Blending blues, gospel, soul, bluegrass and R&B while rooting their sound in passionate harmonies, they've managed to straddle both Music Row and Americana. They've earned a best new artist nod at the 2024 Grammys, toured alongside Chris Stapleton, Orville Peck and John Legend, and collaborated on a platinum single with Zach Bryan. Their fourth album, 'Plus One,' is due Friday.
It hasn't been easy. Together, they've fought through canceled record deals, homelessness, post-traumatic stress disorder and countless barriers to bring listeners a heartfelt message: that love, and forgiveness, is a salve for all.
'Michael and Tanya's love, their story, and their music are all so inspiring and moving,' Legend wrote in an email. 'They're so genuine, soulful and deeply committed to the mission of spreading love and unity through music. Their art comes from such a place of authenticity and truth. They remind us all that real change begins with staying true to who we are.'
The War and Treaty have made clear that part of their responsibility is to speak out on behalf of Black artists and fans in a genre that is known for not welcoming them. Beyoncé just became the first Black artist to win the Grammy for best country album, yet 'Cowboy Carter' received zero Country Music Association Award nominations. And while artists including Rhiannon Giddens, Rissi Palmer, Mickey Guyton and Kane Brown — alongside organizations like the Black Opry — are driving a conversation around country music's longtime exclusion of Black voices and history, the genre remains overwhelmingly white, especially when it comes to Music Row and mainstream radio.
'As beautiful as these photos are, they're one-sided,' Michael said, glancing up at a picture of Johnny Cash, his key inspiration and a fellow military veteran. 'We've got an opportunity. What part of history are you going to write? Tanya and I have a big ol' pen.'
They've already set some precedent. Since releasing their debut album, 'Healing Tide,' in 2018, the War and Treaty have become the first Black duo to be nominated for both CMA and Association of Country Music Awards, where they make regular appearances onstage. 'That's the history I'm chasing,' Michael said, 'so the next Black, white, Asian, whatever couple can come along.'
'Plus One' is a document of this push and pull that uses every corner of the Americana and country musical landscape alongside the Trotters' powerhouse vocals. Recorded at Fame studios in Muscle Shoals, Ala., birthplace of the 'Muscle Shoals Sound' that shot a new kind of soul and blues into country music, it's a record about both the Trotters' relationship as a married couple and the relationship between sounds and styles — and, as in romance, unlikely pairings often come together in deep harmony.
Gospel shouts sit side by side with fast-picking bluegrass (via an appearance from Billy Strings, on 'Drink From Me'). There's a rap about Legend on 'I Can't Let You Go,' and a little R&B on 'Love Like Whiskey,' a twangy song written with Miranda Lambert.
'We might have on some turquoise and cowboy boots, but you're not going to get a cowboy show,' Tanya said, her fingers around a bolo tie necklace that she wore over a burnt-orange dress. 'You're going to get what country music is to us. Not so much the sound, but the culture.'
TANYA TROTTER WAS not new to a country lifestyle when the couple formed the War and Treaty in 2014, but she was new to country music. Growing up the daughter of a sharecropper, she lived on a farm in North Carolina where the family owned tractors 'or whatever people want to call country,' she said. 'But then we walked across the street to the Black Baptist church.'
After singing in choir in church and at Morgan State University in Baltimore, she started a career in R&B under her maiden name, Tanya Blount. She appeared in the second 'Sister Act' movie and a few songs from her debut album, 'Natural Thing,' hit the charts; 'Through the Rain,' a soulful ballad, even cracked the Hot 100. She eventually signed to Sean Combs's Bad Boy Records, but was dropped before an album materialized. (Tanya has said she was 'appalled' by the allegations about her former label boss.) Her old friends are still shocked that she transitioned to country: 'I didn't make a big speech about switching genres,' she said. 'I just did the work. I booked tours at coffee houses and tea shops.'
Michael grew up in Cleveland, in a religious household where the artists his future wife idolized, like Salt-N-Pepa, were strictly prohibited. He joined the Army in 2003 and deployed to Baghdad, where he came to music in a very unusual way: tinkering on a piano that belonged to Saddam Hussein while stationed at one of his palaces. His commanding officer, Robert Sheetz, encouraged him, seeing how it soothed Michael and others.
When Sheetz died in combat, Michael was devastated. He wrote a song to process his emotions and pay tribute, and then continued to sing at the services of fallen soldiers. Michael shares his war stories, but in the past he was hesitant to center his veteran status, though there's a long history of foregrounding patriotism in country music. 'I did bleed and hold the hands of the dying,' he said. 'I did stand in front of the enemy and represent my country. Now's the time to wear it proud.'
The couple met at — of all places — a festival called Spirit of Love in Maryland in the fall of 2010. Michael was performing solo after winning 'Military Idol,' the Army's version of the singing competition, and had just come through a difficult divorce. Tanya was struggling too, after the end of her record deal left her facing financial hardship. They connected instantly, and were married a year later.
When they started singing together, all of their influences melded: their gospel upbringings, their love of country and roots, her past recording career, his experiences healing from war. They signed to the indie Thirty Tigers in 2018, and made the switch to the major label UMG Nashville a few years ago as country music began embracing them.
'When you look at the scope of the music business, where can someone like the War and Treaty thrive?' Trotter asked. He was holding back tears. 'We've got nowhere to go, but somehow we're writing our own way.'
Michael's time as a soldier has had a lasting impact on their relationship: He struggled with debilitating PTSD for years, and at one point, considered taking his own life. He recalled disassociating when Tanya was giving birth to their first child together (they have three from previous relationships). They were homeless at the time, living in a friend's basement. 'I was a piece of [expletive] for years, and that is the truth,' he said, stiffening up on the couch before dissolving back into his wife's arms. 'And that's why 'Plus One' is so important. I want people to see how we weathered that storm, and how I am completely changed, and so is Tanya.'
The 18 songs of 'Plus One' trace the highs and lows of a long-term relationship. The duo sing about struggles with their weight (both are spokespeople for Ozempic), dealing with feelings for prior partners, and the pressure to succeed. 'You said I ain't got what it takes,' Michael sings on 'Skyscraper.' 'Just a fat man with a fat chance. 'In the War and Treaty's songs, love is often heralded as a steadying force, whether it's directed at a partner, a stranger or ourselves.
Love and connection is vital to the War and Treaty's mission. They hope to bring R&B fans and artists to country music, and country fans and artists to R&B. 'I'm not trying to break records,' Tanya said, her husband's head resting on her shoulder. 'I'm trying to break chains.'