THE WAR AND TREATY
It’s pretty much impossible not to love the married duo, whose exuberant music is winning fans in Nashville and far beyond
THE WAR AND TREATY will make you believe. Whether playing to industry insiders at Clive Davis’ exclusive Grammy Awards preparty, attendees at the Country Music Association Awards or Newport Jazz festivalgoers, precedent suggests just about everyone in any given audience will be on their feet by the time the husband-and-wife act finish one of their explosive, emotive, genre-bending and deeply spiritual sets.
“The fans will walk up to us afterward 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 them and crying all at the same time,” she remembers. “I went home just talking about this band.” That same day, Mabe signed the act to its first major-label deal. Since then, this year’s Groundbreaker has continued broadening the genre with riveting and endless exuberance — even if country radio has yet to catch on.
Both Michael, 42, and Tanya, 50, started singing in church before they hit double digits; Michael has a video of himself singing “If Anybody Asks You Who I Am” standing on the congregation’s organ bench at just 3 years old. Those early experiences translated into a lifelong love of music-making and performing for both, though their path to The War and Treaty was far from linear. Tanya (née Blount) had a modest solo career in the 1990s following a cameo in Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit singing alongside Lauryn Hill, including one track that cracked the Billboard Hot 100 in 1994; Cleveland native Michael dabbled in rapping, 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 had returned stateside — fittingly, at an arts festival where he was trying to launch a solo career. Tanya had long since stepped away from music and was working as a worship leader; the couple married and had a son, Legend (yes, named for John), in 2011. They didn’t realize the potency of their combined voices until several years later, though, while recording a demo of a song Michael had written for Tanya’s brother. A friend heard it and practically demanded they keep making music together.
That off-the-cuff duet in 2014 opened their eyes to a world of musical possibilities, but their path forward wasn’t easy or clear-cut. Michael still struggles with PTSD — at times so severely that he has said he contemplated suicide — and the couple also faced 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 they have won three Americana Music Awards. As the duo’s star kept rising, major country labels came calling, leading to the pair’s UMGN signing and subsequent major-label debut, 2023’s Lover’s Game, produced by Dave Cobb.
This past year, The War and Treaty were one of two country acts nominated in 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 really important,” Michael says. “The two artists representing the genre were not representative of that genre at all, if we’re being completely transparent. You got Jelly Roll, a tatted-face rapper who can sing a little bit, and Mike and Tanya, these Black, overweight, gospel-trained singers. Country music is actively trying to attack the narrative it has created, and I’m proud to be part of that change.”
Though they are self-described outliers on the still-too-homogeneous Music Row, the Trotters say their Nashville peers have strongly supported them. It started with Dierks Bentley — who invited them to join him onstage for their first country awards show performance in 2021 and included them on a live album shortly thereafter — and continued with Keith Urban, Miranda Lambert and Chris Stapleton, for whom 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, converted just like all the rest. 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 Los Angeles arena run in June, inevitably earning even more new fans.
Michael and Tanya are relentlessly positive, but they won’t ignore the obvious. “How about Mickey Guyton?” Michael says. “It all begins with her saying, ‘This is what country music looks like, too.’ ” With Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter shining a new spotlight on country music’s long history of racial exclusion, the duo readily acknowledges the work that remains to correct that past. (Beyoncé reached out to the Trotters after Cowboy Carter’s release but did not seek to collaborate with them.) “Have we experienced it?” Tanya asks. “Of course we have. Do we see it in the crowds? Of course we do.”
But they insist on pushing forward. “We’ve been sort of a healing balm, and I won’t allow anyone to take that away from Tanya and I,” Michael says. “We’ve been taken out on the road not to check a box, but literally because we’ve impacted some of the most powerful artists in our genre today.”
“My purpose is to really broaden what country music is and has always been,” UMGN’s Mabe says. “Finding them was like finding a needle in a haystack. They are an evolution of a format... Absolutely, we will eventually end up [bringing them to] country radio.”
That impact has been made because of the way Michael and Tanya translate their gospel bona fides into potent, generous and agnostic performances. “When you think of a gospel sound, you’re thinking of that sense of urgency — regardless of what my message is,” Michael says. “That sense that I need you to understand what I’m saying, that’s what we’re after. When somebody taps into that good truth, it just comes out with that roar and that fire.” There’s no scorched earth in the Trotters’ wake, though, just the one thing they’re interested in evangelizing: love.
Stacy Vee
EXECUTIVE VP, GOLDENVOICE
After more than two decades at Goldenvoice, Vee still aims high. The lineup for Stagecoach sold out far in advance of the April festival due to “the most boundary-pushing lineup I have ever booked,” Vee says. Eric Church, Miranda Lambert and Morgan Wallen headlined the Southern California event’s 2024 edition, which also featured sets from Post Malone, Leon Bridges, Carín León, Willie Nelson and The Beach Boys. The lineup is a point of pride, Vee adds, “not only for my team and [me] but for country music in general.” BIGGEST ISSUE “There are so many things evolving and changing every day, a constant chain reaction. I, however, don’t see it as an issue to deal with. I see it as an opportunity to challenge myself and push the genre forward.”
Marc Dennis Jeff Krones Darin Murphy
CO-HEADS, CAA MUSIC NASHVILLE, CAA Hunter Williams MUSIC AGENT, CAA
became just the sixth artist whose first solo
Hot 100 entry debuted at No. 1, with “Rich Men North of Richmond.”
“We’ve had a number of big moments over the past year that we’re really proud of,” Murphy says. CAA continued to support the visions of clients including Kelsea Ballerini, Maren Morris, Zac Brown Band, Willie Nelson, The Chicks, Carrie Underwood and Jelly Roll, the lattermost of whom charted five Hot 100 hits over the last year. Little Night of Music, the charity that the agency hosts in collaboration with Nashville nonprofit PENCIL, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, having raised over $3 million for Nashville Public Schools since its inception.
BIGGEST ISSUE “Sustaining this current momentum, consumption and engagement,” Williams says, “which seems to be at a record level at the moment.”
Jeffrey Hasson
CO-HEAD OF UTA NASHVILLE, UTA
Curt Motley
Elisa Vazzana
Emily Wright
AGENTS, UTA
UTA client Oliver Anthony exploded last summer when he became just the sixth artist to debut at No. 1 with his first solo Hot 100 entry (his viral hit “Rich Men North of Richmond”). Megan Moroney also had a big year, scoring six ACM Award nominations in April. The UTA team is “so proud of the artists we’ve had the privilege of discovering and helping to break,” Hasson says. “From day one, our goal has been to find and support unique voices, and it’s incredibly rewarding to see these artists reach new heights like sold-out tours and No. 1 singles.” COUNTRY MUSIC IN A WORD “Dominating,” Hasson says.
Joey Lee
Jay Williams
PARTNERS/CO-HEADS OF NASHVILLE, WME Braeden Rountree Aaron Tannenbaum PARTNERS OF NASHVILLE, WME
See story, page 48.
Jonathan Levine
EXECUTIVE VP/MANAGING EXECUTIVE, WASSERMAN MUSIC
Mike Betterton Keith Levy
SENIOR VPs, WASSERMAN MUSIC Shannon Casey
SENIOR VP OF FAIRS AND FESTIVALS, WASSERMAN MUSIC Levine says Wasserman’s biggest achievement is “having the honor to represent so many of the most impactful artists across the broad spectrum of country music,” from Billboard Boxscore’s highest-grossing country artist of all time, Kenny Chesney, and stars
Old Dominion, Brandi Carlile, Tyler Childers, Noah Kahan, The Lumineers, Margo Price and Sturgill Simpson to breakthrough and rising artists like Sierra Farrell, Morgan Wade, Mickey Guyton and Katie Pruitt. “Having a client roster of that caliber and breadth,” he adds, “gives us the opportunity to play a key role in the ongoing diversification of country and Americana music — in reach, scope and definition — as it becomes a bigger, more inclusive tent.”
Austin Neal
CO-HEAD, THE NEAL AGENCY
Morgan Wallen’s One Night at a Time World Tour played 52 dates in 2023 to 1.5 million fans. The Neal Agency superstar landed multiple entries on
Billboard’s 2023 year-end Top Boxscores chart and earned the No. 4 spot on the annual Top Tours ranking. In addition, The Neal Agency continues to play and win the long game with significant milestones such as the launch of TNA Publishing. “This was the first step in becoming more than just a touring company and continuing the vision of creating an artist-centered modern music company,” Neal says.
BIGGEST ISSUE “Oversaturation. With the popularity [of country music] increasing, so have the amount of new artists. I think artist development continues to suffer, and on the live side, I think we could see an impact based on the sheer amount of shows in the market.”
Emily Bowman
ARTIST PARTNERSHIPS MANAGER, TIKTOK
TikTok’s new feature, Add to Music App, which launched at the end of 2023, has further propelled the platform. “This feature gives music fans the ability to save the songs they discover on TikTok on the music streaming services of their choice,” Bowman says. “The launch of this product has been so exciting to watch as artists, like Dasha with her track ‘Austin,’ can connect the dots between their music on-platform and the success they are finding off-platform.”
BIGGEST ISSUE “As country music continues to expand into a global market, it opens the question of how to best market the genre to a broader audience. TikTok offers a fresh approach to promotion while honoring the genre’s roots through storytelling.”
Randy Chase
EXECUTIVE VP OF PROGRAMMING, SUMMIT MEDIA
As the number of programmers willing to step out on new music seems to decrease, Chase has not shied away from the challenge: “In the past year, Summit has made great strides in its country portfolio,” he says. “Despite tough competition, KTTS Springfield, Mo., grew, reestablishing itself as a market leader.” He adds, “WZZK Birmingham, Ala., and WKHK Richmond [Va.] have achieved impressive 10-year ratings highs, a testament to their sustained audience engagement by delivering on consumer expectations.” Summit Media’s country stations have experienced an 11% increase in streaming, which Chase calls “a clear reflection of the digital growth of radio” that “underscores Summit’s unwavering commitment to new music, innovation and adaptability as the country format evolves.”
Having a deep talent roster “gives us the opportunity to play a key role in the ongoing diversification of country and Americana music — in reach, scope and definition.”
—JONATHAN LEVINE, WASSERMAN MUSIC