Despite the rain persisting at a slight rate, The War and Treaty came down from the stage to perform.
By SYLVIA BENAVIDEZ
Contributing Writer
The War and Treaty endured a downpour at Walk the Beat Albion after party, Aug. 23, and yet nothing could dampen their spirits. Their homecoming was an expression of their love for the people of Albion.
Michael and Tonya Trotter shared in an interview and at a welcome reception on Friday how their roots became so deep in city and how their faith grew by what seemed to be an incidental stop to a small town.
Their Albion story began when the Trotters stopped at the Days Inn in 2015 to rest and Michael got out of their vehicle. Something about Albion caught his eye and then later, a chance performance at Blues at the Bohm changed the course of their lives. As he walked around the city, he met Nancy Doyle, executive director of the Bohm at that time, while she was posting things on the windows of the Bohm. She shared with him how much she loved Albion and told him about Blues at the Bohm. Tanya, who had been in the entertainment industry for awhile had said she was not going to sing anymore, which was devastating to him. However, Michael wanted to sing since he hadn’t for a long time, so they both went to Blues at the Bohm.
There, he met Kelly Kidder, Ben Wade, “Coach” Ronnie Parker, and decided to sing, “My Girl” with the band. “That became my town that night,” said Michael. That wasn’t their only visit to the Bohm. People in the audience loved his voice and to his joy, eventually Tanya decided to sing again. However, Michael joked that when the audience heard Tanya’s powerful voice, “people started to forget my name.”
The love they have for each other and of community is at the heart of who the Trotters are as people and performers. Making the choice to seek out community in Albion grew that love. He said, “Staci Stuart just said to us that as many times as she can, she tries to recreate a moment that we created together. We had a party at our house on New Year’s Eve, and the town came to our house. We played games. We laughed. We embarrassed ourselves a bit. Jim Stuart fell out of a chair, didn’t hurt himself though. We bonded and we loved each other. We took care of one another and we learned how to be a family. Our first Christmas tree was in Albion (with) our son, the three of us decorating our tree on Christmas Eve together…We learned how to be a family and how to be in the community and be loved by your community. That is the lesson that we take with us everywhere we go.”
Raising children of their own, they know life can be difficult at times for kids and wanted to share a message for Albion’s youth. “I would tell them that first they have to defeat their own minds, get out of their own heads, get outside breathe, and take in your surroundings,” said Michael. “The first song we wrote in Albion was called ‘Down to the River’ and it was strictly about the experiences that we heard, the sites that we were seeing. Looking at the Coca Cola mural and the river of Kalamazoo and realizing the significance of that and then having all of us whether were Black, white, Hispanic, it didn’t matter. Having us all march and get into the river together. It’s powerful and you get inspired. You start something within yourself that you can’t stop. So my advice to the young people of Albion is one, get out and get with the people, you know, get out of your own head and take in your town. Take in your surroundings and create, create, create.”
Tanya agreed and said, “Use your environment. There are people around all the time that want to help. Create events. I think a big part of it is, like Michael said, is getting together and creating your own events. Using some of the spaces for open mics and different places like that. It’s just not waiting around for it to happen but and getting out there and doing it.”
Their faith in God is in everything they create, how they respond to difficulties, and in their attitude toward others. Tanya explained how this is sacred to her. “Even as a kid, I didn’t know it was called faith. But there’s a tree in my backyard, a big, oak tree, and I would climb up and always get in trouble for going up that high. But I would go up high so I could look down low and I would just start to write. And I didn’t know at the time, I would hum some of the songs I heard in church and not knowing what that was. I think at a very early age, I was meditating and did not know what it was. I was singing songs that made me feel good. My parents were going through a divorce. I was leaving the place that was sacred to me which was my neighborhood with all my friends.”
She sees this generation experiencing similar issues. “When you think about the youth nowadays, feeling displaced and really not know where things are. You look at the internet. You look at what’s happening in school. You even look at what’s going on in your own home. Very early on, I had to learn where I was grounded, and what kept me grounded. One, it was music. It was writing and my faith, whatever I knew that to be at that age.”
Their song, “Take Me In” talks about what is sacred, “Walk me down to the hallowed ground. There I promise not to lose my crown.” Michael explained, “Now you asked what is the hallowed ground? You are, she is, I am. We’ve got to get back in touch with each other. The reason we feel so onerous and defeated is because we spend most of the time on these devices (pointing to cell phone) that don’t give life back. That can’t tell you good job. That can’t say, “I have your back.” I think the human experience is all about swapping and sharing and making sure we keep each other lifted up high, so my hallowed ground is that, people. I get charged up… I feel peace and the presence of God when I am around people most, and I take that back into my quiet moments and there it is.”
The Trotters walking down in the rain to become personal with the Walk the Beat After Party crowd was their love and creativity in action for the people of Albion and all communities, for their love of music, and for their love of God and the gift He’s given them. Michael explained, “For me my gift from God is existing and my gift to God is what I am doing with my existence. So, the songs that I write (about), that I hear from out of experiences, that I hear during my quiet time, and that I see it through my wife, I write about love. I write it, and I deliver it to my friend Jesus and we deliver it to the entire world and that is the process, right there.”
