NASHVILLE SPECIAL 2024: THE SOUND OF LOVE

Tanya and Michael Trotter Jr. don’t look like typical country stars. Nominated in the all-genre Best New Artist category at the Grammys, the husband-and-wife duo are quickly becoming regular Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music nominees for their passionate take on roots music and electrifying performances.

Before The War and Treaty, Tanya dueted with Lauryn Hill in Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, and Michael served his country with active duty in the Middle East. Neither was getting quite where they wanted—until they teamed up. Suddenly, things were popping.

One thing led to another, to another. The Trotters have a magnetism that draws people to them, from Chris Stapleton to Nate Smith to Wilder Woods, and they’re living a gospel of love, hope and passion in even the most frustrating moments. And they sound good.

You guys have been audaciously transparent.

Tanya Trotter: I think it disarms them; they’re able to just be what they are. We live in a world where everything is so fictional. They call it a reality, but it’s so scripted. Your posts have to be 140 characters; put a hashtag here, emoji here. When you see a person who is just who they are, unashamed and working out the kinks in front of you, that gives other people the energy, the will, the strength to do the same.

Michael Trotter Jr.: When you come across someone that transparent, it gives you reason to cheer, because you want them to win. You want that transparency to take over, and other people to discover it. That’s the same appeal Jelly Roll has, that War and Treaty has, laying it all out on the table—and then people will get it. They don’t ever want to see that transparency lose.

Best New Artist?

MTJ: Out of all of the artists in country music, somehow we land on two overweight bands—one tatted-up, fat white guy who preaches, who’s married to a whole other level of transparency, and a Black husband and wife who are overweight, their beauty is from a whole other world, and the gent in the band can snap off at any time because he fought for you in the war. This is what country music has to offer to you today. That’s called transparency.

What’s the secret sauce?

TT: That’s what love does. My son was talking to us, and he said, “Mom, you have to learn yourself before you can be yourself.” I think a lot of us are trying to be, but haven’t really learned how to love ourselves.

When people like Jelly Roll and The War and Treaty openly talk—Jelly talks about his struggles that he still has; his struggles aren’t over. My struggles aren’t over. I have a heart condition. I’m not supposed to eat fried chicken. But I had some last night. (laughs) I mean, it’s a struggle.

Everyone has a struggle they deal with. When you have people that aren’t openly saying in a pious way, “I’m over it,” they’re saying “I don’t put myself in a position where the struggle can overtake me.” That’s a start.

When you both sing, it’s ferocious, and it’s vulnerable.

TT: It’s truth. It really is. And there were some hard truths I had to realize about myself getting into The War and Treaty. Being a solo artist all those years, there were some truths I had to learn about me. There is that thing about being a duo, a lot of bending you need to do, a lot of compromising.

You had your own band before, but now it’s your own band together. You had your own music, picked your own songs and sat with your A&R for hours, sat with the engineers, but now you don’t have to do that. You have someone else to lean on.

I think that’s what partnership teaches you. It teaches for you to be your best, you have to be truthful about yourself. You have to know when you’re having arrogant moments, when you’re out of whack.

You’re signed to a country label (UMG Nashville), doing all the country award shows, but country’s pretty narrow. It used to be many things. You’re bringing that back to country music. Do you view yourselves as country? I love Tanya said, “We’re the sound of love.” Though, stylistically, y’all contain multitudes.

MTJ: I always say it is the sound of our style of love. Sometimes the style of our love sounds like the sacredness of gospel, or the heartbreak of blues, or a journey like country. No matter what, it’s ours, it’s who we are. I am thoroughly OK with being labeled country, R&B, soul, jazz, rock ’n’ roll, Americana, but it’s Michael and Tanya. That’s the first thing we’re labeled as. …

The world’s looking at country music differently. Now is the time. Not 10 years from now, not even five years. Continue to say it, continue to push the envelope and prove it. We’ll keep on until the walls fall.

I’m so grateful. We were the first African American husband-and-wife duo to ever be nominated, who ever graced the stage of an ACM or CMA awards show. A first in its 50-plus years. What an honor.

When you talk about this, 50 years later, when there are other African American husband-and-wife duos, they’ll go through history and say, “Well the first were named Michael and Tanya Trotter.” They’re going to learn about our love story and our mission to unite our world regardless of race or skin or creed or anything. We are one, we are each other’s keeper. That’s the mission.

You just went to FAME to record. What was that like?

MTJ: As the producer, I stood in the center of the studio, and allowed the walls to speak. It was like the residue of Alabama, Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, Little Richard, Etta James, Jason Isbell—Gregg Allman. It’s the blood and the sweat and the tears that are painted on the walls of FAME. I wanted to be soaked in that. I wanted it in my bloodstream. I wanted to feel their power, their energy. Then I wanted them to tell me where I am, to locate me; find me, and tell me “what am I missing?”

From there, we create. I opened my eyes and recognized I’m not alone. As a producer, I am singing and standing next to the baddest woman on earth, Tanya Trotter. I am creating with the greatest musicians on earth at this moment. I’ve got the baddest engineer. I am ready. We’ve got songs that we believe. And we’re all together.

I expected soul. That’s the truth. I wanted it. And I felt it. I felt it in the piano; I felt it in the strings, the drums, the guitar. I felt it in our voices, I felt it in our laughter, in our smiles, in the food we ate.

Everything according to its time now. Nothing we did before matters. This is the now, this is right now. You are standing in the middle of the history, history that has become the musical fabric of America.

TT: We never go to the studio without having our voices, and we were both sick. But I felt like spiritually what was happening was where your voice ends, your spirit picks up. So we recorded these songs, scratch vocals—we have to go back when we go back from the Grammys and record our real vocals. But I felt the spirit.

You open your mouth and hear a sound, and it’s music, it’s melodic. It sounds good to other people’s ears. That is the most humbling thing ever because you know you had nothing to do with it. It’s absolutely someone else working through you and connecting you to all these people.

Heavy.

MTJ: Eminem says, “I had to lose myself,” because I came with all those questions. And then the music begins, and you lose yourself. I’m lost in this moment, and I don’t want to be found. Even with this record and our shows.

You collaborated with impressive people. Because what you do is so strong, you go into other people’s rooms, and totally hold your space.

MTJ: We’ve got Zach Bryan, “Hey Driver.” We would never write a song like this. Our experiences don’t afford it, but Zach’s do. For Zach to say, “I know you don’t see yourself in this, but here’s where I see me. Do you trust me?” It’s like “OK. Let’s go, let’s see since you see.”

You are the Nashville Sound. Merle Haggard is an exhaler; it’s very soft, George Jones had that electric vocal. The first Tammy Wynette boxed set was called Tears of Fire for a reason. That is the Nashville sound. You’re part of bringing diversity back.

MTJ: I loved Dottie West and Kenny Rogers! Man, Dottie and Kenny had a thing! “Every Time Two Fools Collide.” All the drama.

Every year in Nashville, Jeannie Seely and the West family put on a concert for Dottie’s birthday. We covered, “Anyone Who Isn’t Me Tonight.” We played it with Dottie’s band. It was so epic, I’m going to start doing more of that in our shows, because I don’t want people to forget.

When we helped induct her in 2018, that was our first true introduction into country music. We did “Lesson in Leavin’,” which could easily be a soul record. [Sings] I knew right then that was the path.

Americana too.

MTJ: Americana, and Buddy Miller. And Emmylou Harris! When Emmylou Harris literally on my birthday brought me a batch of brownies, her mother’s recipe, and made them that morning after flying all night from Europe. She came home, checked on the dog and made me brownies.

It was our first day recording our first album with Buddy called Healing Tide. Emmylou Harris, with her hair pulled back in a bun, sunglasses, and she’s got on a jumpsuit; she walks over and goes, “Michael, can you put these—.” And I don’t recognize her because every time I’ve seen the great Emmylou Harris, she’s in the swag. But this woman is just as fine and beautiful and soft, smells incredible. And she’s holding a batch of brownies. I was like, “I hope these are for me?” She said, “Michael, these are your birthday brownies I made you.” That’s when I knew it was Emmylou Harris. … And they were amazing.

I’ve been blessed, sitting on the Atlantic in a boat, talking with Patty Griffin. We start at like 9 p.m., then her team ends our conversation, “We’ve got to get Patty to bed.” It’s 3:25 in the morning, Patty and I just sitting in a window, talking about everything, the pains of life, segregation, racism; she’s worried, and I’m calming her down, encouraging her. We’re talking about music as if we were best friends in another life.

For me, this is country music at its best. It’s what the legends do with the up-and-comers, embrace them and show them what matters most. That’s what I love