The War and Treaty: Tiny Desk Concert

VPM | By Tom Huizenga

Published July 23, 2026 at 9:00 AM EDT

I told myself I wasn’t going to tear up at this Tiny Desk by The War and Treaty. So much for willpower. When a performance is this strong, there’s no holding back.

For more than a decade, Michael and Tanya Trotter, a husband-and-wife duo based in Nashville, have delivered music directly from the heart. There is no pretense; they are exactly themselves. Naturally, it helps to possess voices rich in both opulence and amplitude, along with emotive astuteness. Michael can toss off a gritty scream reminiscent of Bobby Womack, but touched with the sensuality of Teddy Pendergrass, while Tanya can rock out her voice, à la Tina Turner.

Tanya traces her career roots back to Washington, D.C., while Michael’s back story is more tangled. He taught himself piano as a soldier when there happened to be an instrument in one of Saddam Hussein’s palaces where he and his U.S. Army unit were encamped during the Iraq War. Later, he suffered from PTSD — along with suicidal thoughts and homelessness — which inspired him to write “Five More Minutes.”

That song blends classic soul with rock, just two of the many genres the Trotters routinely merge. There are flashes of country, Americana, R&B and funk in their songs. A retro soul vibe runs through this Tiny Desk set, enthralling the audience, which included local family members and the legendary DJ Donnie Simpson.

SET LIST

“Are You Ready to Love Me?”
“Five More Minutes”
“Don’t Say Goodbye”
“Shouldn’t Have”
“High Heels”

MUSICIANS

Michael Trotter Jr.: vocals, keys
Tanya Trotter: vocals
Darion Hodge: bass, music director
Max Brown: guitar
Korey Keys: keys
Jonathan “B.A.M.” Holmes: drums
Blaise Hearn: trumpet
Colton Good: sax
Chelsey Green: violin
Cristina Sands: background vocals
Jordan Babbs: background vocals

TINY DESK TEAM

Producer: Tom Huizenga
Director/Editor: Kara Frame
Audio Director/Mix: Josh Newell
Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Kara Frame, Joshua Bryant, Maia Stern, Mitra I. Arthur
Audio Engineer: Neil Tevault
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Photographer: Zayrha Rodriguez
Series Editor: Lars Gotrich
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Executive Director: Sonali Mehta
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson, Robin Hilton

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Tom Huizenga

Tom Huizenga is a producer for NPR Music. He contributes a wide range of stories about classical music to NPR's news programs and is the classical music reviewer for All Things Considered. He appears regularly on NPR Music podcasts and founded NPR's classical music blog Deceptive Cadence in 2010.

Joining NPR in 1999, Huizenga produced, wrote and edited NPR's Peabody Award-winning daily classical music show Performance Today and the programs SymphonyCast and World of Opera.

He's produced live radio broadcasts from the Kennedy Center and other venues, including New York's (Le) Poisson Rouge, where he created NPR's first classical music webcast featuring the Emerson String Quartet.

As a video producer, Huizenga has created some of NPR Music's noteworthy music documentaries in New York. He brought mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato to the historic Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, placed tenor Lawrence Brownlee and pianist Jason Moran inside an active crypt at a historic church in Harlem, and invited composer Philip Glass to a Chinatown loft to discuss music with Devonté Hynes (aka Blood Orange).

He has also written and produced radio specials, such as A Choral Christmas With Stile Antico, broadcast on stations around the country.

Prior to NPR, Huizenga served as music director for NPR member station KRWG, in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and taught in the journalism department at New Mexico State University.

Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Huizenga's radio career began at the University of Michigan, where he produced and hosted a broad range of radio programs at Ann Arbor's WCBN-FM. He holds a B.A. from the University of Michigan in English literature and ethnomusicology.

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