The War and Treaty hit CMA stage, release new EP, pursue greater country stardom

An unparalleled level of force and timing equalling career acceleration is required to crystallize a pedestal big and broad enough to showcase the vocal duo The War and Treaty properly.

Singularly, the Universal Music Group-signed, married tandem of Michael and Tanya Trotter are dynamic performing talents worthy of immense acclaim. Together, they create passionate music meant to cause equal levels of joy and unusual euphoria.

They're the type of artists whose voices and performances are so unmistakably profound that they routinely receive standing ovations worldwide. But, impressively, these moments follow many in the crowd are being introduced to them for the first time upon seeing them perform.

"Our art is born from a spiritual element -- like we all are -- where we learn to love everything until we learn not to love," says Tanya Trotter about the creative inspiration behind their new, four-track "Blank Page" EP. "Like many in country music, we love family, faith and fun more than anything else."

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The EP's lead single, "That's How Love Is Made," blends soulful elements with the types of rootsy Americana vibes that led to them winning the Americana Music Awards' 2022 trophy for Duo/Group of the Year. Moreover, with the aid of fellow creatives like top Nashville producer Dave Cobb ("Elvis" film soundtrack, Chris Stapleton, among many credits), the duo highlights the power of their voices as what he refers to as "the difference maker."

However, before continuing, it's important to note that they're Black artists.

This impacts the conversation because the release of their latest EP -- their fourth release in six years, and first for Universal -- coincides with them performing a cover of The Rolling Stones' "It's Only Rock N Roll" alongside The Brothers Osborne at the 56th Country Music Association Awards.

However, unlike the other Black artists that the CMA has featured on its Awards stage since 2020 -- a list that impressively includes Jimmie Allen, Madeline Edwards, Mickey Guyton, Darius Rucker and Brittney Spencer -- the War and Treaty are unlike anything the CMA, or country music for that matter, have ever witnessed at this level.

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Notably, according to Michael Trotter, their arrival on the Awards stage does not occur without artists including Allen, their Universal label-mate Mickey Guyton, Rissi Palmer and other artists of color gaining renown in country music, opening a door for their success.

"We all we got, so we must keep this space open," he says about the need for Black artists in Nashville to champion each other in the country music industry's highest-profile realms. "

That's not it, though. Even deeper, the magic of The War and Treaty's success lies within the DNA of their career to date.

Before marrying Michael Trotter, Jr., Tanya was Tanya Blount, a Bad Boy Records-signed vocalist from 1996-2000 with film credits alongside Lauryn Hill in the 1993 film "Sister Act 2." Therefore, this elevates her and Michael's decade of success in Nashville to another level of great disbelief:

Tanya Trotter's the only performer you know with co-signs from Diddy and Patti Labelle, plus Dierks Bentley, Emmylou Harris and John Prine who has performed on stage with the Notorious B.I.G.

Moreover, Michael Trotter, Jr. is a Cleveland native who spent his teenage years being raised in a shelter for battered women in Washington, D.C., because his mother escaped his father's abuse. Moreover, 18 years ago, the singer was in the United States Army, stationed in Iraq, and found himself in Saddam Hussein's Baghdad palace, learning how to play the piano in the abode's bombed-out remains.

After returning from Iraq, playing gigs, initiating therapy for his PTSD and divorcing his first wife, he ended up in Nashville with Tanya, a father of three. He gained respect from constant touring of large and large venues small -- including the Grand Ole Opry.

These stories define The War and Treaty's unique Blackness -- because Black culture and people are not a monolith -- as a strength that forces the music industry to use contemporary "urban" definitions and social stereotyping to not create them as "other" artists who end up in categories defined as Americana, folk and jazz because they fall outside of mainstream modern pop cultural definitions. Rather, they occupy space similar to but different from how younger, hip-hop adjacent stars portray Black excellence.

In short, their position in the music industry -- seasoned performers with incredible talent and stories in country's brightest spotlight -- does something wildly unique.

It begins to answer a 50-year-old question that many likely weren't asking but should:

Imagine a time wherein musical conditions had allowed for integration to occur in country music in the early 1970s. Consider the idea that during an era where Mississippi native and Dallas resident Charley Pride was a chart-topping country superstar and top-20 achieving Black female performer Linda Martell was on the charts, they could have been joined by R&B-renowned -- and Southern-born names, including North Carolina native Roberta Flack, Arkansas-born Memphian Al Green, Tennessee native Issac Hayes, Alabama native Wilson Pickett and more.

Upon meeting legendary pop and soul production duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Jam told the duo during an inspirational, nearly six-hour-long chat; he stated that the moment that impressed him the most about the War and Treaty was when they had performed for Dottie West's 2018 Country Music Hall of Fame induction.

Jam noted that he and his production partner -- who count names including Boyz II Men, Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey and Usher among names they turned into household pop staples -- counted not having a career stop in Nashville that included working with West as one of their greatest regrets.

"Nashville didn't let them in. We can change that narrative," says Michael Trotter.

This meeting directly inspired his thoughts about the tandem's Nashville careers.

"R&B was all about having rhythm in the blues," he says. "Country music was about stories. Gospel was about having faith in your darkest (or brightest) hour. Jazz was about swag. Just like a lot of those artists you mentioned, [The War and Treaty] encapsulates all of these influences into one sound."

Being unmistakably known as Black and gifted in a space where Black culture (namely musical culture) governs so much of popular culture, but Black people have historically been unseen is an arduous task. Artists before The War and Treaty being visible to this degree have realized that expanding country music beyond its long-steeped traditional presentations of genre, race, and numerous other social barriers is a difficult process.

However, they're hopeful for what's next with a new EP, new label, and increased visibility.

"We are enough to be in this space," says Tanya Trotter about The War and Treaty's emergence as country music stars. Her husband adds, "as artists, we tell the truth -- and our truth is that we're unleashing how we live, by the power of our performance as our testimony -- our passion for music, all music."

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: The War and Treaty hit CMA stage, release EP, pursue country stardom