\n<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a dressing room backstage at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville called \u201cIt Takes Two\u201d that\u2019s filled with photos of some of country music\u2019s most famous duos. It\u2019s Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter\u2019s favorite spot to get ready before they perform there as the War and Treaty<\/a>, which is so often, they\u2019ve lost count. They hope to become members someday. (It\u2019s on Tanya\u2019s vision board.) And they don\u2019t want to just be inducted. They want to be the first Black artists on that wall.<\/p>\n \u201cHow about right over there, by Marty Stuart and Connie Smith?\u201d Michael, 42, said last month while laying across his wife\u2019s lap in a pair of leather trousers, their bodies forming a plus sign.<\/p>\n Tanya, 52, shook her head while patting the top of her husband\u2019s, the pair\u2019s offstage chemistry mirroring their onstage warmth. \u201cI like that big blank wall,\u201d she replied, indicating a bare corner where they could pioneer their own space.<\/p>\n This has long been the War and Treaty\u2019s approach in Nashville: working within the genre\u2019s 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\u2019ve managed to straddle both Music Row and Americana. They\u2019ve 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<\/a> with Zach Bryan. Their fourth album, \u201cPlus One,\u201d<\/em> is due Friday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n It hasn\u2019t been easy. Together, they\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cMichael and Tanya\u2019s love, their story, and their music are all so inspiring and moving,\u201d Legend wrote in an email. \u201cThey\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\n 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. Beyonc\u00e9 just became the first Black artist<\/a> to win the Grammy for best country album, yet \u201cCowboy Carter\u201d received zero<\/a> Country Music Association Award nominations. And while artists including Rhiannon Giddens, Rissi Palmer, Mickey Guyton and Kane Brown \u2014 alongside organizations like the Black Opry<\/a> \u2014 are driving a conversation around country music\u2019s longtime exclusion of Black voices and history, the genre remains overwhelmingly white, especially when it comes to Music Row and mainstream radio.<\/p>\n \u201cAs beautiful as these photos are, they\u2019re one-sided,\u201d Michael said, glancing up at a picture of Johnny Cash, his key inspiration and a fellow military veteran. \u201cWe\u2019ve got an opportunity. What part of history are you going to write? Tanya and I have a big ol\u2019 pen.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n They\u2019ve already set some precedent. Since releasing their debut album, \u201cHealing Tide,\u201d 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. \u201cThat\u2019s the history I\u2019m chasing,\u201d Michael said, \u201cso the next Black, white, Asian, whatever couple can come along.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPlus One\u201d<\/em> is a document of this push and pull that uses every corner of the Americana and country musical landscape alongside the Trotters\u2019 powerhouse vocals. Recorded at Fame studios in Muscle Shoals, Ala., birthplace of the \u201cMuscle Shoals Sound\u201d that shot a new kind of soul and blues into country music, it\u2019s a record about both the Trotters\u2019 relationship as a married couple and the relationship between sounds and styles \u2014 and, as in romance, unlikely pairings often come together in deep harmony.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Gospel shouts sit side by side with fast-picking bluegrass (via an appearance from Billy Strings, on \u201cDrink From Me\u201d). There\u2019s a rap about Legend on \u201cI Can\u2019t Let You Go,\u201d and a little R&B on \u201cLove Like Whiskey,\u201d a twangy song written with Miranda Lambert.<\/p>\n \u201cWe might have on some turquoise and cowboy boots, but you\u2019re not going to get a cowboy show,\u201d Tanya said, her fingers around a bolo tie necklace that she wore over a burnt-orange dress. \u201cYou\u2019re going to get what country music is to us. Not so much the sound, but the culture.\u201d<\/p>\n TANYA TROTTER WAS<\/strong> 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 \u201cor whatever people want to call country,\u201d she said. \u201cBut then we walked across the street to the Black Baptist church.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n 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 \u201cSister Act\u201d movie and a few songs from her debut album, \u201cNatural Thing,\u201d hit the charts; \u201cThrough the Rain,\u201d a soulful ballad, even cracked the Hot 100. She eventually signed to Sean Combs\u2019s Bad Boy Records, but was dropped before an album materialized. (Tanya has said she was \u201cappalled\u201d<\/a> by the allegations about her former label boss.) Her old friends are still shocked that she transitioned to country: \u201cI didn\u2019t make a big speech about switching genres,\u201d she said. \u201cI just did the work. I booked tours at coffee houses and tea shops.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s a long history of foregrounding patriotism in country music. \u201cI did bleed and hold the hands of the dying,\u201d he said. \u201cI did stand in front of the enemy and represent my country. Now\u2019s the time to wear it proud.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The couple met at \u2014 of all places \u2014 a festival called Spirit of Love in Maryland in the fall of 2010. Michael was performing solo after winning \u201cMilitary Idol,\u201d the Army\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWhen you look at the scope of the music business, where can someone like the War and Treaty thrive?\u201d Trotter asked. He was holding back tears. \u201cWe\u2019ve got nowhere to go, but somehow we\u2019re writing our own way.\u201d<\/p>\n Michael\u2019s 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\u2019s basement. \u201cI was a piece of [expletive] for years, and that is the truth,\u201d he said, stiffening up on the couch before dissolving back into his wife\u2019s arms. \u201cAnd that\u2019s why \u2018Plus One\u2019 is so important. I want people to see how we weathered that storm, and how I am completely changed, and so is Tanya.\u201d<\/p>\n The 18 songs of \u201cPlus One\u201d 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. \u201cYou said I ain\u2019t got what it takes,\u201d Michael sings on \u201cSkyscraper.\u201d \u201cJust a fat man with a fat chance. \u201dIn the War and Treaty\u2019s songs, love is often heralded as a steadying force, whether it\u2019s directed at a partner, a stranger or ourselves.<\/p>\n Love and connection is vital to the War and Treaty\u2019s mission. They hope to bring R&B fans and artists to country music, and country fans and artists to R&B. \u201cI\u2019m not trying to break records,\u201d Tanya said, her husband\u2019s head resting on her shoulder. \u201cI\u2019m trying to break chains.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n