The War and Treaty accepts the Groundbreaker award at Billboard ’s Country Power Players 2024.

Tanya Trotter:
Well, I would first want to thank God for getting us here. And I have to thank my best friend, my lover, my partner in crime, my songwriting partner and my husband, Mr. Michael Trotter Jr. I just can’t believe that we’re standing up here, to be very honest.

We journeyed into Americana music a few years ago, we called a young lady by the name of Rissi Palmer and we were in … and we were like, homeless in Maryland, asking her what does she think about us doing country music or Americana music? And she says, “I don’t see why not. I think you can do anything you put your mind to.” And we charted on that path. We love The Civil Wars, we love Shovels & Rope, we loved all those bands.

And we began our journey in our turtle top Ford van, up and down 95 with our little son in the back, putting cheeseburgers up under his seat when we stopped at McDonald’s for the $1 meal. And we’re just grateful for where it has led us. We want to thank. I’m gonna let my husband talk. We want to thank you UMG, want to thank Cindy Mape, our family at UMG, we want to thank our lawyer, Jeff Covin, our team. We started our management company about nine or 10 months ago. And we want to thank Virginia Prater, who was our first booking agent and our young team Jolene and Michelle.

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