The music of the War & Treaty is created to boost the human spirit, and singer Tanya Blount and her husband, organist-singer Michael Trotter Jr., did exactly that last month when their performance during the Co
The music of the War & Treaty is created to boost the human spirit, and singer Tanya Blount and her husband, organist-singer Michael Trotter Jr., did exactly that last month when their performance during the Concert of Colors drew one of the most enthusiastic responses from the crowd at the Fisher Theater.
Formerly based in Baltimore, Blount and Trotter recently relocated to Albion in Calhoun County, where they have quickly become enthusiastic contributors to their new home’s cultural resurgence. On Saturday, they’ ll be bringing their powerful blend of roots, gospel, folk and blues to Otus Supply in Ferndale.
“For every show, we put our hands together before we go onstage, ” Trotter said. “Like a sports huddle. And we say: ‘Remember the person. Remember yourself and remember why you do what you do. And remember to have fun.’ ”
Blount and Trotter’s unique sound — think the “O Brother, Where Are Thou?” soundtrack mixed with retro R&B and seasoned generously with old-school gospel and some blues — quickly earned them a solid reputation during their first few years together. When they’ re onstage, every song in their sets surges with the go-for-broke urgency of a finale. You see them sweat. You hear the breathlessness in their voices at the end of each chorus, and you feel their passion in the playing and intonation of every note and lyric.
Driven by Blount’s vocals, which are fervent enough for a church house and powerful enough for an opera house, their songs document both the sweetness and the strife of the human experience.
“I think a lot of people are still walking around with some sort of emptiness, ” said Trotter, who served with the U. S. Army in Iraq in the mid-2000s. “And they don’ t know what’s missing. What’s missing is that feeling — that feeling of the human soul. Pete Seeger, the Carter Family, Johnny Cash, Ray Charles or the Temptations — their music is all so revitalizing. So we are always in a position to revitalize the human spirit. Hatred is always trying to revitalize itself in some form. So we sing, and we use our voice to bring healing and joy to dark places and to confirm in the light places what they already feel.”
Blount says she and her husband credit the upbringing they received from their mothers with reminding them of the importance of humbleness and empathy. Her mother is a first-generation American who came from Panama and instilled in her daughter the importance of getting an education and making the most of every opportunity. Blount says that both her mother and Trotter demonstrated that music could be a source of healing.
The duo performs live with bassist Ronnie L. Parker, drummer Jeffrey Rogers and guitarists Ben Wade and Steve Opp. Their new EP, “Down to the River, ” came out two weeks ago and features an exhilarating gospel-tinged title track whose accompanying music video was shot on the streets of Albion.
Blount encountered the man who would become her husband in 2010 during a festival near Baltimore. She was so impressed with the performance he gave that she ran over to him in her high heels and said, right then and there, that she just had to work with him.
“Michael had never written songs for another artist before, ” said Blount, who was in the middle of recording her own material with her brother. “I convinced Michael to come to my house and asked him to write me a song, and in that one day, he wrote me 10 songs!”
“And we got married soon after, ” said Trotter. “We were living in a large city, Baltimore, at that time, but I’ ve always been a fan of ‘The Andy Griffith Show.’ I thought if I ever have a family, that I’ d want it to be in a safe and welcoming place like Mayberry!
“We were doing some research, and we fell on this little town in Michigan (Albion) . And when we got there, it looked almost like the real Mayberry!
“We just settled right in, ” said Trotter. “We said, ‘This is the place!’ And the town has embraced us, and we’ ve found some awesome music in town. We decided to dig deep and really build something here.”
Blount recalls filming the music video for “Down to the River, ” which features several of their neighbors. Trotter’s lyrics for that song reminded her of the old spiritual “Wade in the Water.”
“We were honored to be able to film a video with all different races, all different creeds, all different ages, with everyone walking down to (the nearby Kalamazoo River) and getting into the water together.
“ ‘Down to the River’ is really a coming together of a people who want to be healed or to have a good time or to gain a different perspective of where we believe our country should be.”
Trotter comes from a musical family and recalls that he was often moved to tears by the vocals of his mother and aunts, who sang gospel songs as an ensemble. His father was “a great big bear of a man” who listened almost exclusively to calming classical music. His first encounter with an organ came courtesy of his Uncle Zelbert, who played at church.
Blount was similarly inspired by performances of her mother and brother in church. “I remember thinking: ‘Oh my goodness,’ ” said Blount. “I just hoped one day I’ d get an opportunity to make people feel like that with music.”
As a young boy performing in church, Trotter was startled by the loud applause he received following his songs. He often ran from it to find a place to hide.
“I think I just didn’ t want it to confuse me as to why I was (singing) in the first place, which was that I just loved seeing people smile and sometimes shed a tear to what I was singing. I wasn’ t concerned with getting applause. I just wanted that feeling to travel with me forever.”
He and Blount are fans not only of music pioneers but also contemporary artists. “We’ re enjoying the lore, ” Trotter said, gushing about his appreciation, as a new Michigander, for Berry Gordy’s Motown sound. “But we really are excited to see this new wave of what folks like Jack White are doing in Detroit and to see that revitalization of vinyl records.
“It says something about our country that we’ ve not forgotten and that we want to always keep this place as a thriving source for great music.”
Blount says she has always made it a point to be involved in her community. “And Michael, with his service to our country, just made us a natural fit to do what we do together (with the War and Treaty) , which is love people and to want to better our nation, to serve our country through music.
