The group has recently started to gain traction too. Last year, it joined Tanya Tucker when she performed at the Rhythm & Roots festival in Bristol, TN-VA, and the group played a rousing rendition of “It’s Only Rock ’n’ Roll (But I Like It)” with Brothers Osborne at the Country Music Awards.
In a recent phone interview from their Nashville home, the War and Treaty’s Trotter Jr., a Cleveland native, and his wife spoke about their new album and upcoming show that takes place on Sunday, April 23, at House of Blues.
I saw you two perform last year at the Rhythm & Roots festival in Bristol. You gave a fantastic performance and even played with Tanya Tucker.
Trotter Jr.: I remember the first time we ever did that festival, we were a part of a tribute to the Carter family. To be able to return to that stage and perform again for the people of Tennessee and Virginia was great. Going up there with Tanya Tucker was great too. She is amazing. Kudos to the Country Music Hall of Fame for finally getting her inducted. That will be amazing. I don’t know if you saw or not, but she paraded around Nashville on a black stallion the day she got inducted.
Michael, you grew up in Cleveland. Talk about what that was like and how you were immersed in music from any early age.
Trotter Jr.: Music was cultivated and birthed in me in Cleveland. I got my first start at 3 years old singing at the Holy Trinity Baptist Church. I went to several elementary schools, and I mention this because my best musical experience as far as school goes was in elementary school because we had got learn about Scott Joplin and Charlie “Bird” Parker. I had some great music teachers who were always sharing new jazz and new country and soul music. I learned about the rich musical history of Cleveland. When I think of Cleveland, I think of music. I go back immediately to those days.
You two first met at a music festival?
Trotter: We met in Laurel, MD. Michael moved from Cleveland to Maryland, and when he came out of the military, he was going around singing his music. He was one of the artists we had at the festival. I fell in love with his music and sound and with him and his lyrics. We exchanged numbers and here we still are.
You released Hearts Town in 2020. How soon after that did the songs for your new album, Lover’s Game, begin to come together?
Trotter: Michael is always writing. It’s a form of therapy for him. Even though we had some songs for the record, we opened ourselves up, and I got more involved in the writing process. This is the first time we did some collaborations with other songwriters. We have a song with Dave Barnes, and we have a song be a guy named Beau Bedford that we did not write. This is the first time we have a song on our album that we did not write. It strengthened us as a band. When we’re out performing the songs on the road, it’s very emotional for both us. From start to finish, we gave birth to all these babies together. It’s not like Michael was writing a song, and he delivered the baby to me, and I looked it to see if I liked how it looked. It was a complete partnership.
How’d you wind up working with Dave Cobb (Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile)? Where did you go to record?
Trotter: We did the Country Music Hall of Fame induction for Ray Charles and performed a song and Dave was the engineer. He gave Michael a call and he asked us to come down to RCA to see what he had done on the record. We went down there to listen to it, and we loved it. We had never heard our music like that before. Dave said, “We should do a record together. The people need to hear you live on a record, and I think we can do that together.” We were excited to do a record at RCA, but we did the record at his home in Savannah. It was the best decision. We missed the experience of being at RCA, but being able to do that record in Savannah was the best decision of what we needed this record to be.
The album title track, “Lover’s Game,” is pretty rocking. What inspired the tune?
Trotter: We wanted to record an ode to Nashville. I don’t eat the hot chicken, and I don’t know all the Nashville things. Dave came up with the line about hot chicken and strawberry wine. We just revamped it to make it into an ode to Nashville.
I love how “Blank Page” is subsequently so mellow. Did you want to show off your musical range with this album?
Trotter Jr.: No. It just comes out that way. We just feel each other when we sing. On “Blank Page,” what the fans are hearing vocally is me giving it my all and she not knowing how to control herself. I’m too sexy for her in the vocal booth and everywhere we go, and she tries to rub my stomach like Buddha. I’m like, “That’s enough, young lady. We have to work.” What you’re hearing vocally is her frustration.
Trotter: Yes, I completely agree. He’s irresistible.
“Ain’t No Harmin’ Me” is such a righteous anthem of self-empowerment. Talk about that track.
Trotter: I think we have a lot of different stories within our story. One of the things that we have held fast to in our marriage and in our music career is that no matter what comes our way, there is no harming us or deterring us from what we needed to happen. All couples have disagreements and and problems or situations that they might not have the tools to work through. What we found is that the problem is the problem. Some people call it the devil. Gospel is our background. That’s usually when they think of something holding them down as the devil we see it coming, but we won’t let it hold us down. We just hold fast. Whatever you bring our way won’t hold us down or deter us in what we want to become.
To what extent do you fit with the country crowd?
Trotter: It’s interesting because I feel that what people are missing is that gospel and blues is the foundation of country music. It’s the foundation of the storytelling. You had not just black people working in the cotton fields but you had white people working in the cotton fields too. There were hard times for most people living in the south. Whether it was on the front porch with the harmonica or the guitar, it all is rooted from the same emotional stories.
Trotter Jr.: I feel like Ray Charles put us in that conversation. When you hear Ray Charles, you don’t hear that timbre vocally in country music again until you hear Chris Stapleton and now Tanya Trotter. It’s our calling. It’s our gift to weave in and out of these genres and feel confident and comfortable on any stage.
You’ll be on the All American Road Show with Chris Stapleton this summer. What will that be like?
Trotter Jr.: Our first song on the Chris Stapleton tour will be the National Anthem. We will call him out. It’s like we’re saying, “Hey Chris, try this.”
He can do it, can’t he?
Trotter Jr.: Oh, no, not this version.
I like it. You’re already talking smack.
Trotter: Cleveland-style!
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This article appears in Apr 5-19, 2023.
