The War and Treaty’s Homer festival builds on deep Albion roots

Grammy-nominated duo opens family ranch for sold-out festival

By Black Squirrel News

Grammy-nominated duo The War and Treaty will welcome a sold-out crowd to their family ranch in Homer on Aug. 22 for the inaugural HeartsTown Music Festival.

For Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter, home has centered on their adopted hometown of Albion.

The husband-and-wife duo built The War and Treaty while living in Albion. They moved to the city in 2016, finding an audience and developing their blend of gospel, blues, soul, rock and country before their music carried them to stages around the world.

“When we dreamed up HeartsTown, we knew we wanted it to feel like home,” the duo wrote in announcing the festival lineup on social media. They described Michigan as “the place we call our second home.”

Albion played an important role in shaping The War and Treaty. Michael became a regular at Blues at the Bohm, and the couple connected with local musicians while performing as Trotter and Blount. Tanya has since credited the Bohm scene with pushing their music toward the blues and helping shape the sound they carried forward as The War and Treaty.

Both had established careers in music before forming The War and Treaty. Michael began performing while serving in the U.S. Army in Iraq, eventually singing at memorials for fallen soldiers. Tanya had already recorded professionally and appeared alongside Lauryn Hill in 1993’s “Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit.” Together, they have since earned Grammy nominations and performed on some of the country’s biggest stages.

In a July 20 social media post, Tanya thanked local fans as tickets for HeartsTown quickly disappeared.

“Thank you so much to our little town of Albion, all the little towns around it, all of our friends in Michigan, all of our fans in Michigan,” she said. “We just came up with the idea to open up our home and love on y’all, just celebrate and enjoy life; so many things we need right now.”

Michael has long credited Albion with helping make The War and Treaty possible.

“Without Albion, there is no War and Treaty,” he said ahead of their 2020 Grammy performance. “That’s family, that’s the hometown. Tanya and I are proud to say that’s where we belong.”

How we reported this: This story draws on public statements by Michael and Tanya Trotter on social media, information from HeartsTown Music Festival and previous reporting and published interviews about The War and Treaty’s ties to Calhoun County.