Gonna guess he prefers the studios in Nashville these days.
The War & Treaty are one of the hottest new acts in country music the past few years, and for good reason. While the husband and wife duo of Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter might best be known for their duet of “Hey Driver” with Zach Bryan, their own catalog showcases not only their powerful, soulful vocals but also the type of incredible songwriting that comes from years of difficult personal experiences and heartbreak – and the resilience that comes with it.
Before he was one half of a Grammy-nominated duo, Michael Trotter Jr. was a soldier in the U.S. Army serving overseas in Iraq. During one of his deployments, his unit found themselves at an encampment in Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s private palace.
According to an interview with People, the palace happened to have a piano in the basement, and Trotter’s commanding officer Captain Robert Scheetz knew that Trotter was a singer himself. So he encouraged the soldier to play around on Saddam Hussein’s piano – which is how Trotter taught himself to play.
Unfortunately, Scheetz was killed while out on a mission – and Trotter wrote his first song to perform at his commander’s memorial service.
He says that it was while working in Saddam’s palace that he began to have musical aspirations:
“I’d sweep and sing and make these songs up in my head. I’d spin around. At 2 a.m, I’m yelling and singing at the top of my lungs and I’m hearing every instrument. I’m dreaming. The war provided that dream.”
Unfortunately, Trotter struggled when he returned from war, as so many veterans do. At one point he was in a position that no veteran should find themselves in: Unemployed and homeless. But that’s when he met his future wife.
“That’s the wildest thing, we met homeless. She was staying with a friend, Tanya was coming out of her recovery period… I was a homeless vet. So I just couldn’t… when I came out of the military, I was still married, but when we got divorced, that’s when I went away couch to couch.
And I will say, I just didn’t know what it meant to be a veteran. I didn’t know what was out there for me. I knew nothing.”
Tanya said during an appearance on the Dumb Blonde podcast with Bunnie XO that she didn’t even know Michael had been in the military for three years after they got together – because as Michael says, he was “embarrassed” by his service after the way he was treated when he returned home.
Michael says that when he got off the plane at the Baltimore airport after his deployment, still in uniform and proud to have served his country, he was shocked to see that military members were being protested against.
Sadly, he wasn’t greeted with a warm welcome, like any service member who goes to fight for our country and lay their life on the line should be:
“Because I was embarrassed. So when I came home from the war, we were being protested against. So when I got to the airport, I was in my uniform, I’m all proud, I’m like, I survived, you know, I’m really happy to be home.
And in Baltimore, there were protestors, and they were throwing things at us. They were just like, ‘You’re killers.’ They were protesting the war, Bush babies and all and I was like, oh, so this is how my country feels about us?”
@dbpodcast The dynamic duo Tanya and Michael Trotter, aka The War and Treaty, are here to share their journey from the streets of Cleveland to the bright lights of country stardom
It’s both heartbreaking and infuriating to hear stories about any veteran who was treated like this, regardless of whether you agree with the war or not. These are the people laying their lives on the line for our freedom and to keep us safe, and our country owes them so much more than what they get right now.
But luckily, Trotter was able to harness his talent and, along with his incredible wife Tanya, form one of the best duos in country music.
And it all started in Saddam Hussein’s palace in Iraq.
If you haven’t checked out The War and Treaty yet, you’re missing out – but luckily, they just released an incredible new album, Plus One, today. And it’s a great place to start to dive into this underrated duo.