One doesn’t often hear accounts of how pursuing a career in music helped strengthen a marriage. Rather, we’re used to stories of long stretches away from home, late nights in the studio, time spent secluded to write — things necessary to a successful career but typically not conducive to a happy, healthy marriage. The War and Treaty — the blues-, rock- and R&B-blending husband-and-wife duo of Michael and Tanya Trotter — prove the opposite can be just as true on their new album Lover’s Game, out Friday via Mercury Records.
In 2019, the Trotters notched an Americana Music Association Honors and Awards win for Best Emerging Artist, setting the stage for a whirlwind two years, even in spite of the pandemic. In 2020, they released their second full-length Hearts Town, and even with COVID-19 throwing a wrench in the works of the music industry, the critically acclaimed LP propelled them forward; in 2021, they toured with John Legend — an artist they’d admired and respected for years — and in 2022 they were recognized as Americana’s Duo/Group of the Year.
Released during the early months of the pandemic, Hearts Town marked the end of a chapter for the duo, while Lover’s Game signals the start of a new one. The Trotters made the bulk of the new LP during lockdown, finding that period of solitude to be a fruitful time for looking inward — even if it was slightly frustrating, given that it put their rapid rise on hold. While much of the couple’s reflection related to their own marriage, they also considered how they wanted to approach other relationships in their lives, including their relationship with their fans.
“The pandemic really allowed us, as married people, to do some inner work, and really reposition and rethink about how we saw the ones we love, the ones we live with, the ones we couldn’t get to,” Tanya tells the Scene. “And it refocused us in a lot of ways. It’s really an introspective record, not just about Michael and me, but even [about] how we saw our fans — and how much we missed them and appreciated them, and wanted them to go on this next journey with us.”
Lover’s Game is about marriage, but that doesn’t mean it is a collection of love songs. Instead, the 10-track collection looks at long-term commitment through varied perspectives. It examines the good (the nuanced piano ballad “That’s How Love Is Made”), the bad (the tender “Yesterday’s Burn”) and, refreshingly, the ugly (the deliciously twangy title track) sides of dedicating your life to another human being. Lyrically, the record is nuanced and ultimately optimistic, while sonically Lover’s Game offers up the musical melting pot for which the duo has come to be loved.
The Trotters recorded Lover’s Game with Americana super-producer Dave Cobb, whom Tanya calls “a dear friend,” noting his honesty and down-to-earth disposition.
“He allowed us to be who we are,” she says. “And then we trusted that, and trusted each other. It was a wonderful experience.”
Notably, the album is also the first record on which the Trotters wrote songs in truly collaborative fashion. They sat down to write together instead of sharing parts and demos for the other to work from.
“We wrote together, we sang together, we conceptualized together,” Michael says. “We didn’t do anything separately or apart. And that’s what makes this album so beautiful and, in my opinion, so much more complete than our prior works. Because usually it’s all me [on a song] or it’s all Tanya. This time it’s us, together.”
The day after our conversation, Michael and Tanya headed down to Riviera Maya, Mexico, for a festival organized by Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds. Alongside acts like Shovels & Rope and Mt. Joy, The War and Treaty played two days of the three-day event, including a coveted Friday evening slot just before Dave and Tim’s daily performance. As The War and Treaty’s star continues to rise, it’s easy to imagine the duo continuing to creep ever higher on festival lineup posters; in other words, catch their performances at intimate venues while you still can.
Making Lover’s Game turned out to be far more than just making a record for the Trotters, thanks both to the reflection afforded by the pandemic and to the pair’s willingness to be open and vulnerable with one another during the songwriting process. Those conversations and writing sessions deepened the couple’s marriage and yielded their best album yet — one that offers answers, if sometimes indirectly, to questions wrought by their time stuck at home.
“We had to really check ourselves,” Michael says. “How do we come out of this moment? How do we overcome our own personal fears? And how do we overcome our own personal letdowns and disappointments? Are we going to recommit ourselves to this journey of loving humanity and loving ourselves and loving one another, loving our children — and just loving, period? This is our gift to ourselves and to humanity.”
