This isn’t Tanya Blount’s first go-round in a power duo.
If you can’t quite put your finger on where you know her from, think back to the first song featured in 𝗦𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗗 𝗜𝗡 𝗖𝗢𝗟𝗢𝗥 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟭. Tanya’s biggest claim to fame WAS singing “His Eye Is on the Sparrow” alongside Lauryn Hill in “Sister Act 2.”
These days, she’s Mrs. Tanya Blount, wife of Michael Trotter and together, they form The War and Treaty, the power country-gospel-soul duo she was meant to complete.
Just watch, and you’ll be a believer. The War and Treaty’s music is absolutely joyous, but what makes them truly shine is their chemistry. It’s on full display in the video for “Five More Minutes,” a totally infectious, tongue-in-cheek tale introducing a variety of different situations and couples begging for just a little more time.
It’s really lovely because it’ll make you laugh, but also because all of these scenarios feature people of color in ordinary situations, but ones you so rarely see included in our narratives. The most serious and touching of them all, as well as the song’s inspiration, is taken from Michael & Tanya’s real lives: a woman begging a partner ready to end his life to hold off. When Michael suffered from PTSD as a war veteran, he was convinced that suicide and the subsequent life insurance payout that would be issued to his family was a more logical choice than continuing to allow them to suffer financially and emotionally alongside him.
With the police on the way to intervene, Tanya pleaded with her husband. “Michael, I know you have a plan to leave this world,” she said, “but if you give me just five more minutes to love you, I promise I can make you staying in this world make sense.”
Since that terrible day just 4 years ago, The War and Treaty have collaborated with Emmylou Harris, toured with Al Green, shared stages with Brandi Carlile and Elvis Costello, performed for Austin City Limits on PBS and last year’s Grammys, and are currently on the road with The Avett Brothers.
“I gave her that five minutes.” Michael said, “and I’m still living in it right now.”