Husband-and-wife duo the War and Treaty (Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Blount-Trotter) will release their sophomore album this fall. Hearts Town is due out on Sept. 25, via Rounder Records.

Hearts Town is a 12-track project featuring special guests Jason Isbell, Jerry Douglas and Chris Eldridge. The album, per a press release, features a "narrative of loving without limit," and includes songs such as "Beautiful" -- which recalls the last days of Blount-Trotter's mother and is described as "darkly charged but undeniably hopeful" -- and "Take Me In," which is "an impassioned plea for unity in times of division."

"Right now, a lot of people are feeling so deeply engulfed in pain and surrounded by negativity, and sometimes you just need to hear that you're good," Blount-Trotter explains. "That's the whole idea behind Hearts Town: No one's trying to change what you think or how you talk or anything else about you. You're just fine the way you are."

The War and Treaty Hearts Town
Rounder Records
loading...

Hearts Town's title track was partially inspired by Trotter Jr.'s experiences serving two tours of duty in Iraq. It was there, in fact, that he began performing for fellow Army members, and grew his songwriting skills by writing songs in memory of fallen soldiers.

"Hearts Town is a neighborhood strictly made up of people who all share the same kind of heart: hearts that love, hearts that heal, hearts that don't see division," Trotter Jr. explains. "There's all different types of people within that neighborhood, but they're still somehow all working together -- which is exactly the kind of town we want to live in."

Ahead of Hearts Town's release, the War and Treaty have shared "Five More Minutes," an uplifting track full of horns and strings. Its accompanying music video, which readers can watch above, alludes at one point to the nearly tragic moment that inspired the song.

"After years of falling in and out of financial and mental depression, I had finally had enough. I was ready to take my own life," Trotter Jr. shares. "But in my darkest moment, where I was ready right then and there to end it all, my wife Tanya asked one last thing of me: 'Just give me five more minutes. Stay with me. Just five more minutes to love you.' And something in her eyes, something in her hands convinced me to give her that five more minutes."

Trotter Jr. produced Hearts Town, while Blount-Trotter and their musical director Max Brown co-produced the project. They recorded the album at Nashville's Blackbird Studio.

When he returned to the States after his service in the Army, Trotter Jr. and Blount-Trotter began creating music together after sharing a stage at a music festival. Their collaborations led to their marriage and the War and Treaty, who were named the 2019 Americana Honors & Awards Emerging Artist of the Year.

Hearts Town follows 2018's Healing Tide, the War and Treaty's debut album. The new album is available to pre-order and pre-save now.

The War and Treaty, Hearts Town Tracklist:

1. "Yearning"
2. "Beautiful" (feat. Jason Isbell)
3. "Five More Minutes"
4. "Hearts Town"
5. "Jubilee"
6. "Hey Pretty Moon"
7. "Jealousy"
8. "Liquid Lies"
9. "Lonely in My Grief"
10. "Little Boy Blue"
11. "Hustlin'" (feat. Jerry Douglas and Chris Etheridge)
12. "Take Me In"

TheBoot logo
Enter your number to get our free mobile app

LOOK: More Songs Inspired By Real Life Tragedy

More From TheBoot