The War & Treaty Coming to The Stephen Talkhouse April 4

Making the ground shake on the country music scene, The War And Treaty are poised to leave their mark as one of the most iconic husband-and-wife duos in music history.

Captivating fans with their effortless fusion of soul and country, the duo is currently on the road on The Plus One Tour, a 30+ city tour that is continuing to bring their electrifying live show to fans across the US and Canada. Fresh off earning their 3rd consecutive Academy of Country Music Award nomination for “Duo of the Year,” they’ll be hitting the stage at Amagansett’s The Stephen Talkhouse on Friday, April 4.

On Valentine’s Day of this year, the duo dropped their album, ‘Plus One’ which has been praised by The New York Times, NPR, Rolling Stone, WSJ and was featured in Esquire’s ”The 5 Best Albums of 2025 (So Far).” The project doubles down on the powerful sense of togetherness that’s always fueled their music.

Dan’s Papers had the chance to catch up with Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter just an hour before they took the stage in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

In your Instagram post reacting to the nomination, you said, “‘when @acmawards said ‘We see you, again’ and see your grind we felt that in our soul.’” Can you share a bit more of your reaction and what it was like to receive this nomination?

Tanya: There is progress, at least for us, to be acknowledged by the ACM Awards and to be embraced by that community. So we wanted to take the opportunity to one, say thank you, but not sugarcoat the fact that there still are barriers that we have to continue to break down, and it’s important for them to see that we’re not going anywhere in this space. We are going to stand our ground and continue to make music.

On Valentine’s Day, you released ‘Plus One’ have been getting to play this album on tour now – how’s it been on the road so far? What has the experience of getting to play your new music for the first time been like?

Michael: Hearing them singing the songs that you’ve released before the project, that you’ve released in the past, it’s so cool to see that. Last night, the building was halfway full of people who’ve seen us before and the other half, is like a split even of people who have never seen us before. That was super exciting to see. I think the biggest thing now that we’re looking to do, is to balance out the audiences in terms of how it looks culturally. Right now, our predominant audience is white and we’re starting to see more and more black people show up and more and more of the Latino and the Asian community starting to trickle out and show up into the concerts.

We won’t stop until we see, not a trickle, but a floodgate of just all different kinds of people from all different walks of life. Last night was the first time we actually asked, hey, who’s seen us before and who hasn’t? Who’s first time? We wanted to make the first timers feel welcome, let ’em know that we appreciate them coming out, and we wanted to feel them. We wanted to connect with their energy, their spirit, because we’re unfamiliar with one another. So we take it to heart, we take it very seriously and we take it very intentionally.

Do you have any favorite songs you’re loving performing on this tour?

Tanya: All of them. We’ve dug into some songs from our old album that we have never done before, “Hearts Town.” We’re doing a song that we didn’t think was one of the songs that were really punched through on this record, but “Love Is On Fire.” We’re doing “Home,” it’s another song that is about Michael’s story that has really connected with the fans. You just don’t know what the fans are going to love, and it’s good to hear from them what they love so you know what to perform.

Can you tell me a bit more about your approach to songwriting?

Tanya: When you’re writing a song, you do come from a place of your own personal stories, but one of the things that we’re learning as we grow as songwriters, is that sometimes perspective isn’t your story. Sometimes it’s telling the story that really may not have anything to do with you, but you can relate to it… A song like “Reminisce” lets people see that we understand even though we’re married, that there’s a life that happens after a breakup.

What is it like playing in intimate settings? How does The Stephen Talkhouse compare to venues you’ve been playing at?

Michael: We can’t wait to get back to it, the energy’s always great.

Tanya: Oh, it’s great. I mean, it’s where we started really playing in smaller venues and knowing how to have your sound in a room like that. To know how shaker sounds in rooms like that. It’s always interesting to do that, and we love it. We love one-on-one. We love the energy you get from the crowd when it comes off. They’re definitely listening.

Is there anyone you’re still hoping to collaborate with, and what makes a dream collaboration for you?

Tanya: We’re always open. We did a record with Jon Bon Jovi earlier this year, and it’s coming out on his record we wrote with Miranda Lambert. It’s whatever comes along. I don’t think that there’s one particular artist that we’re kind of pinpointing right now, because it’s all about when you meet an artist and how you feel about them and how they feel about you. If it just clicks like we did with Zach Bryan at the ACM Awards a few years ago. It was just one of those meetings where he took to us, and we took to him, and out of that chemistry, we ended up with “Hey Driver.” So I think it’s just being open and seeing what the universe is trying to put in front of you. You usually feel that when you’re in front of another artist.

Can you tell me a bit more about how the collaboration with Zach Bryan and “Hey Driver” came to life?

Tanya: It was so great doing that song because the backdrop about it is Michael had gone to the restroom, and Zach and I were in the studio, and Zach was like, I saw Michael playing a piano. Does he play? I said, yeah, he plays, and Michael doesn’t necessarily like to play the piano all the time. And I said, well, what I need you to do is make sure he’s playing on this song. So when he came back, Zach was like, Hey, Michael, man, look, follow me with this guitar and see what you got. And Michael was kind of apprehensive. So what you hear on the record is Zach pushing Michael to play it. So he is like, this is your song, man, come on, give it to me! You can hear it on the record. It’s very raw and organic, and there was a lot of emotion and feeling behind the record, and it worked.