Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast - EP 308: The War and Treaty

Episode Date: February 18, 2025

While Andy & Nick trip the light fantastic on the epic party boat that is Jam Cruise (hopefully not tripping so hard they fall over board, am I right?), we got a new episode with updates from the boys! Is there any news on the upcoming tour? Or the new album?? And what of Jam Cruise's buffet??? But most importantly, on the Interview Hour, we welcome the singer-songwriter/performance powerhouse couple that is Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter, otherwise known as The War and Treaty! Andy and Nick fall in love with Michael & Tanya's relationship and we think you will too. Drink water and don't be ashamed to wear them life preservers boys! Call, leave a message, and tell us who you think the essential American rock band is today: [phone]  Check out our new album!, L'Optimist on all platforms Follow us on Instagram @worldsavingpodcast For more information on Andy Frasco, the band and/or the blog, go to: AndyFrasco.com Produced by Andy Frasco, Nick Gerlach, Joe Angelhow, & Chris Lorentz Audio mix by Chris Lorentz Featuring: Mara Davis

Wherever you go, whatever you do, I will be right here wasted with you I wonder if we should call your guy And get high Cocaine But in the end we should get some food and go to bed Instead In the end we should get some food and go to bed instead Wherever you go, whatever you do I will be right here wasted with you

Let's have us some drinks and make glasses clean I will be right here wasted with you Let's start the staff, so I said, I don't know, we'll see. To the tourist trap, you know, and talking about when they drop you off is funny. I can't wait to see you get some sun. Just on the beach.

I'm going to carry a black umbrella around all day. Like those Asian dudes? Just like in the sun on the deck of the boat. I should go find a black umbrella this week. Do you have one? Like those really dainty French girls. Yes. Like, ooh, the sun.

You know what I mean? We're on Jam Cruise. So we have a couple, we have some interviews for the next couple of weeks that, but this first one, Warren Treatie. Unbelievable. Oh my God. That was such a good one. If you guys don't know who Warren Treatie, um, get to know them, get to know

them, they, I mean, they wrote that song, Hey driver, Hey Chris, play Hey driver from Zach Brian. So take me down the road. That's a little bit winding to a place. They still put sugar in their eyes. Um, and then, and, and well, Warren treaty wrote it. And then and well Warren Treater wrote it yeah. Zach was nice enough to put on his record. Oh they

didn't sing on it. Yeah they sing. Okay okay they did both okay okay. Yeah but they come with the Ogden and May I saw. Ogden and May just put out a new record during Valentine's Day that's why we're getting this record. They're in love. They're in love. God it's a power couple show. You're gonna love this interview. They sing at the end. They sing and they sing.

Oh, so beautiful. They gave me chills over Zoom. Yeah. I felt like this was a really good... Yeah, they did. They gave me chills too. You know how hard it is to give me chills over Zoom? You gotta be offering me like some kind of deal. It's true. So you're going to love this interview, but first our sponsors, volume.com, the best live stream company in the world. Yes. People head over to volume.com. They have great content. They just, they streamed our whole mission ballroom show, all the hype about the mission bar. I'm sure you can now watch it on volume.com plus if you're a content creator head over to volume.com Subscription models is the move people. I know fans are pissed like oh frasca turning into AI. Listen, I'm not That multiple times. What does that even mean? You can't turn into AI. This is what I'm saying. These fucking fans

Maybe they're dumb some of these some of these fans are just out of their minds. Just come on Go for a walk. Stop watching all this conspiracy I am NOT a robot. No, there's no way I'm promoting myself. Can I make a little money? Yeah, okay. I give all this shit out for free. Can I make a little bit of money? Can I finish? Can I finish? Can I finish? Can I finish? Man But head out to volume.com content creators get your stuff out there People who just love good content. I know like people love live watching live shows.

They have a stockpile stockpile stockpile of live performances. You don't wanna miss. So head over to volume.com. All right guys, we're on a boat. So this is, this is, God it's so fucking. Oh, the food is so bad!

Oh, the food is horrible. Yeah. And the alcohol. So good. You can drink some vodka sodas with me. Hell yeah, we won't drink. I got a- I love to drink.

I got a pool deck, or I got a view. I'm gonna be up in your room a lot. Yeah, just come. I don't wanna party a lot. I won't tell anybody where your room is, don't worry. Please. Not even your band. You see a lot of people with pineapples on the jam cruise.

If you see the pineapple. I know what that means. That means they want to swing with you. Hell yeah, I should just wear a pineapple. I will keep that dick in your pants. It's hard, it's so big. All right guys, you can see the veins from space. Enjoy Warren Treaty,

and I will see you next week with moon hooch That interview was sick too and honeycomb and honeycomb was Michael and honeycomb Michael and honeycomb beatboxed. They beatboxed. All right. Goodbye Yeah driver you can drive me off anywhere Yeah driver you can drive me off anywhere. Hey driver, you can drive me off anywhere. Hey driver, you can drive me off anywhere. Here we are, war and treaty, the couple of the lifetime. This is the power couple I need in my life. My new favorite couple. I want to drink a beer with y'all.

We'd love to drink a beer with you. It's 1 p.m. here, so we're getting ready. I want to drink a beer or maybe five. That's how I feel too. That's how I feel too. Thank you all so much for having us on here. This is so, so, so, we're so grateful really for real. We are. We are big fans of you guys and you know, I just, as I'm researching your story and hearing more and more about, tell me what was the first, Mike, you guys, you're, you're, you're, you're smooth, my man.

I heard about how you guys, you're, you're, you're, you're smooth. My man. I heard about how you guys met a smooth criminal hat. I stole her heart. I love it. Tell, tell me how, what, what Tony, tell me the first time you realized you're in love with Michael. Oh God, I'm scared of this answer Like the highest sadistic. I know I really am and this is worse This is this right here is gonna nail it that I'm like that walking through my neighborhood in Maryland God and There's a deer

On our walk and the deer is like gasping for air. He's dying. He's dying He's like. He's dying And Michael and I just hold each other as we're walking and I'm like Michael we gotta stop him gotta fix it And we both just like burst into tears about this deer and Michael he wanted to do you cry first? He did cry first. Oh, it's lifeless deer and he's like, what do you want me to do? I was like, no, don't kill it. So I realized at that moment that he's pretty sappy like me. I like to use the promote Hunter license. What was the story of you said you left your sweater at your house or what was this? He left a sweater in her house.

That's why I want to have a beer with you. You, you get the details. So now here's my birthday. So I had a birthday party and she wanted me to come to her birthday party. Now by this time I was bumming. You know that song they wrote in the 90s TLC had called Scrubs? Oh yeah, hanging out the passenger side of my best friend's ride. That song was written about me. I was scrubbing up there. It was bad man. And so I just wasn't the the the

the the the the the the the the the That on son come up. I'm like what the hell is happening? We ain't high schoolers. Like this is weird Hmm, I'm trying to fall back. So she's trying to get me to come to the birthday party. I come I Don't have money to get a gift, but I found

a $5.99 Cd in the CBS of the greatest hits of Aretha Franklin the CBS of the greatest hits of Aretha Franklin. So I bought that with my 10 bucks that I had. And then I also wrote a song for her recorded. Oh, well, that was later, baby. So I wrote a song for her. I recorded it. And I asked my buddy to put it on the CD. So I burned it and put it all together. And so that night, I presented her with my little gifts. And she thought it all together. And so that night I presented her with my little gifts and she thought it was cool. And then that's time for me to go home. And I apparently I leave my sweater at her house. And so she, you know, she doesn't know I'm feeling her yet. And so I'm telling

my best friend, I'm like, bro, I think tonight's gonna be the night. I'm going to have to let the hammer fall. You know, you know, Freddie Mercury says, I'm going to have to let it fall. And she said, Michael, you left your sweater. You're always leaving things at my house. What are you going to leave next? And bro, I came up with the most cheesiest Matthew McConaughey line. And I said, she said, what are you goingonaughey line And I said she said what are you gonna leave next and I said my heart. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh Mmm, you know what you say about a damn thing

So I it was my birthday party was a night after I was drunk and I fell asleep So the next day I woke up it was like three o'clock and I saw all these messages So I called him and I'm like what well get to the messages. I'm apologizing because by this time I have not heard from her. I'm like, oh I have really screwed this up. I read I didn't get the signs, right? I'm like ma'am. I'm calling her ma'am. She went from tiny to ma'am Ma'am I didn't mean to offend you ma'am. I Was just playing or something something jumped in me and my friend is egging and all he's like told you she's gonna screw this up I was like ma'am if we can continue to work together. I promise to never get out of line again I didn't know what was going on. I didn't hear the news until the next day around 2 p.m.

That is so funny. I like that strategy by her, make him sweat it a little bit. Yeah, make him sweat it out. Like he's applying for a loan. I was drunk. I was just tired. I was just tired. It was y'all, see, and you know with y'all,

see, that strategy of making them sweat is a is the thing Mm-hmm, you can make me sweat just by asking me to walk across the room That's fucking amazing that is amazing so tiny, yeah, so tell me about this. So, when you finally gave Michael a shot, where were you in your career? What part of your career were you in? I want to hear, like, the backstory of, because, I mean, you're on Sister Act,

and, like, your career was popping off. Michael, was this after, this was after, when you were a veteran, So this passed that, right? Yeah. Yeah. I'm like, so after Sister Act, actually before Sister Act, let me go back, I was signed to Island Records.

I was signed there and then I did Sister Act. So I actually did stuff in high school. Oh my God, you were signed to Island that young? Yeah, I was signed very young when you can sing like that. Holy crap. And then when I met Michael, I guess a couple years prior, maybe like eight years before I met him, I was with bad boy for about six years. That's taboo right now. But yeah, I was there writing and everything. So I was doing that and then I stopped and became a worship leader at a church in Georgia as well as Maryland. She didn't find me there. When I met Michael I kind of was just like you know trying to figure it out to really see if

it's something I really wanted to keep doing. I was writing you know productions doing stuff like that in Maryland, wherever I'm from. So when I met him, I kind of was in the middle of really just trying to figure out what I wanted to do artistically. And when I met him, it was just like really cool because he had this energy, this vibe with him and this excitement about the music, you know, about everything that he was doing. And that's what I needed. And not just from a musical standpoint, but for as a friend

Yeah, you think being in the music industry that early in life got you jaded and Michaels like saved your musical soul oh First for certain. Yeah, I would definitely have to say that because I mean, I think you go into it Yeah, I think you go into it. You hear that? I saved your musical soul. He saved my soul. He needs his own podcast. Oh, no. Yeah. He did save my soul. He's hilarious.

He did save my soul. But yeah, tell me about that. What do you think? Like genuinely in your heart, do you think you're jaded from all the running in the major label business for that young into your life that you felt like there was just like, you're just losing the light a little bit inside of you? Yeah. I mean, you lose the excitement, you know, when you're that young, especially at that time, you know, they're like, Oh, you should have this kind of clothes on or you

should sing this kind of music. And I just got it because I love music. I went to a performing art school, you know, Duke Ellington School of the Arts. All my kid, all my kid friends were doing what I was doing. And it was just an exciting time when I School of the Arts. Oh yeah, famous. You know, all my kid friends were doing what I was doing. And it was just an exciting time when I got into the business. And once you get thrusted into it, you're like, Oh, this is, this is something else. You know, this is not what I thought it was going to be. And so I got, my life was dimming and I just really walked away from it, you know, right in the middle of recording my record.

That takes a lot. At bat. Yeah. walked away from it, you know, right in the middle of recording my record. It takes a lot. At bat. Yeah. What's, uh, before we get into the later part, I want to hear, uh, what's, uh, what's your take on, uh, old Diddy? Uh, what's your- Voldemort.

If you don't want to talk about it, it's okay. But you know, what's- And now I, now I understand why our house doesn't have baby oil. Oh my God. Oh my God. We need to go to Costco. You know what? Oh, I'm going to go to Costco. why our house doesn't have baby oil. Oh my god. Oh my god. We need to go to Costco.

Oh no, I can't even leave me. Slip and slide. We're gonna leave it there. Slip and slide. Oh, I'm in trouble. You're in trouble. I'm in trouble now. You're in trouble.

All these polls, Biggie just blinked. Damn. That's kind of funny, isn't it? Yeah, but you know, I mean major label stuff. It's like, you know, you don't deal with a lot of people. Biggie just blink Yeah, but I you know, I mean major label stuff it's like, you know, you don't deal with a lot of people I you know, it's I feel like most of the major labels are kind of Yeah, it's about I mean Our company. What do you think? You know, it's it's a corporation. It's like we go work for Nike You better believe you're going to go through that assembly line, right?

I was shoot those the best is the shooter keep on Yep on stock the one that doesn't you know, you know, so With that mentality when you're creative and you get thrusted into that and you're not necessarily Protected or you want to be more involved because I was an involved artist So my manager and I having these meetings together, you know, i'm knowing I think I knew too much yeah I started working too much so soon and now you know I'm that I'm older we have our own management company now and we have our own team I totally get it from a different perspective now man you know absolutely yeah yeah I mean Michael you just had a big With Zach Brian. I mean that you guys had that was a huge thing for you guys. Like what was that?

How is that feeling coming back into it like that? It was just Tell me a little bit more about that while we're talking about major label success and stuff. I Think you know watching what Zack has been able to do and the freedom that he has, is really having the, I'm a woman, but I'll say having the balls. You're a woman. Anyway, it's having- You better be a woman.

Well, I mean- We're in trouble. You wouldn't take me otherwise. Hell no. I waited to get on this show to get my secret. You going so well. But yeah, I think you have the freedom You wouldn't take me otherwise. I waited to get on this show. You're going. Yeah, I think you know you have the freedom to kind of just Do whatever you want to do and to watch how Zach just moves. Yeah, he doesn't want to do it his music

He puts it out. He's you know, oh god a rat. He's an asshole I am NOT I would say he drove me freaking nuts. He drove me nuts. In fact, I would tell us to his little face. Face that he drove me nuts as an army guy. I bet. Oh yeah. You're both veterans. Yeah. I forgot about that. Yeah. Yeah. It started there. That's definitely, you know, he was better than he was Navy. Yeah. What's the difference between Navy vets and army net vets? I mean you work Navy don't bell bottoms Navy are the guys who wish they were Marines. Yeah. Yeah, right

Ego I said about that Brian is this He was we went out back after the ACM awards this one particular year, really to say to me, Kane Brown. Because Kane was out back and they have like this quarter sack where we all the artists trailers are. So Kane was on the other end and ours was out of there. So I was like, oh man, this is an opportunity to meet came. We hadn't met came before.

And, um, so in our quest to go do that, we had already gotten familiar with Nate Smith. Y'all familiar with. Yeah. A little bit. Okay. So he intersected us and it was like, yo, Michael, you know bit. Okay, so I And I was like, yo Michael, you know a nice bit, you know, he reminds you of I don't know if you guys have seen This movie you're seeing this movie called up. Yeah. Oh, yeah, one of my favorites

Oh, you remember the dog the big dog and up Doug. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's nice Sounds awesome best day Yeah, that's Nate Smith. Sounds awesome. That's Nate. Oh my God. So he was out there talking to Zach Bryan and Zach Bryan ran up to us and was like, yo, that was insane. We performed this year on the Word Show. He thought it was amazing. And we were familiar with each other from touring earlier in the year.

We both did the Outlaw Music Festival with Willie Nelson. So we were very familiar with his character. I mean, his character is like, when we got there, everybody had his merch. Yeah. All the artists, like he wanted all the artists that had merch from him. And he was saying how grateful he was to be on this ticket. Now, clearly, none of us realized that all those people there, they were definitely there for Willie. Yeah. Yeah. By the way, they were singing Zach Brian song. Oh my God. I bet. I bet. So they make a long story short. He's like, I got this song. I want, I want us to cover anyone. So I mean, it was short. He

gets my number and he texts us the chorus to the song. He's like, man, just put it on voice and send it back. I just want to hear how y'all sound. Bro, we do it and we sent it back and the song was up that night. No way. He used that recording. I said, bro, if bro if you take that shit down He was like wait, what do you mean are you sign? He doesn't think through shit that's a Navy response right there

Maybe boy response. I said bro. You're about to get us. It's a major take it down and let's do this, right? but uh all jokes aside uh he he he has uh one of the most complex hearts that work yeah you know so it's so fun to text him and to throw him off guard and to mess with him and constantly irritate him he's a good dude yeah you could tell you, it's like you got in trouble with the whole chicken fried thing. And I realized, you know, it's like, I'm like, oh, there's two sides of each story. Exactly. There's two sides of each story.

Never trust an ex. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We don't need to get into that another man's business. But my advice. That's smart. Do you have any advice for me? I just sold a song to Zach Brown and Snoop Dogg and And yeah, I'm a musician. I've been in a band for 15 years

What what advice would you give me for you know when someone else is using your song? For songwriting back end stuff. That's a tough one for me because everyone wants, you know, us to write for these other artists and all those things. And I'm like, well, I'm an artist. You know, I tend to write for me. I tend to write for Tanya. But I can tell you this, here's how it's coming to me. Um, right now we're in a moment to where people need to hear from people like you. Yeah.

However you get your voice heard is the most important thing. And what I mean is it might be through the vocal chords of a snoop dog and Zach Brown, but you know that originates from, you know the spirit in which you wrote this thing. And that's the hard thing for artists to remember. Hey, we got in this business to do something specific. What is your specifics? I got in the business because I realized that my music can actually heal in some of the most tumultuous situations, i.e. war. Right.

You know, songs and what I was doing out there gave us an end to our own enemy to sit, break bread, shake hands, understand, let them vibe to the vibes we're setting forth. It's not always about just trying to go in and kill the enemy, but it's sometimes, and more than likely most of the times, it's about going in and understanding that that's a human being over there. That's how they have their beliefs. You've got yours too. And if we can sort through and sit and reason together, this is the reason why I intended to get into music is because I realized that it could heal. It also was healing me.

My music was created in the safe haven for me to exist in the midst of war. So everybody's got a specific, I think that it's very important to keep in the forefront of your mind why and what you're doing Yeah, and and then at the end of day, we'll make that money. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Let's go I'll piggyback on that because I believe, you know, people spend a lot of time talking, going to counseling, doing all kinds of different things to get healing as Michael said, music

is healing. But the wonderful and fascinating thing about being a songwriter or being an artist is that you get to heal a person in rapid speed, two to three minutes Hmm, you know a song and that is like the coolest gift to have That's the dopest gift to have on this planet is that it takes somebody an hour? To get healed but you can write a song in order to become you know to get happy or free whatever in an a minute Oh, yeah, I mean that pin can just change somebody's trajectory. You know what I mean? So I think that just you even saying that, you know, I want to go listen to the song now, you know, I know it's going to be a party song. I want to go hear it. I want to feel it.

You know, so congratulations. I appreciate it. Thank you, Tanya. And I think about that, you know, it's like, because yeah, Hey Driver was that for me. I was going through a hard time in my life and that song got me through so much and I heard it. I just, I just, it made me so, even the beginning where Zach gives you your flowers, this is your song, bro, go get them.

You know, that gave me heart that like, okay, so other people's songs matter. And before we go into the PTSD, because Mike, I wanna talk about this. This is like, I'm in, I wanna talk about this. What's the difference? So two things, were you pissed that you didn't release that song by yourself?

I would be. Yeah, we were like, I mean, the way it happened, it was so fast. It was so raw. And we like going to the studio and we did our first record raw and it's EP raw like that. This guy was just like, what is little guitar, we slapped it on a voice memo and he puts it up. And then we go to the studio studio We record the song and like what two three hours It was it was to maybe to set up to it took like maybe like 20 to 30 minutes When you're there hours in the you know recording projects and he's like, okay, we're done Yeah, and Zach Brian's like

that it's like he'll do it once and forget about it. I've heard about that with this session. It's like he doesn't overthink it he's like all right we're putting this out and let's keep it moving. I don't really believe in that philosophy I'm more of a perfectionist. What about you Michael? Are you like that you guys like that too? I'm like, you're like, Whoa, chill, chill, chill. Let's do it a couple more times. No, I'm learning. Tell the truth, Michael. Come on here. You're the safe space here.

Hey, listen, I am learning, uh, things all over again, you know, and I, I've learned that, um, working with Tanya, um, you can do that perfectionist thing and completely lose. Oh, yeah. She's like I'm done. I'm out. They like whoa Back here you know, but no, I think that um Everybody's got a style. Everybody's got a thing that works for them. And I think what made this so special is familiarity versus unfamiliarity. And, you know, you're familiar with Zach and the guitar and that kind of thing, whether it be from, you know, back in the day, Bruce Springsteen or Willie Nelson or, you know, Foley or whoever it is.

But then you forget that you're used to these gospel voices too, whether it be through Motown, it would be through the Burroughs or Rita Franklin. And then we get to answer the question of what if they were bold enough to collide the worlds, what would it be? And this is what Hey Driver is for a lot of people is like, wow, man, it's a good drive on a summer day. But I can feel those lyrics, I can feel it because of Michael and Tanya's interpretation. And I don't also have to feel that I can sing as good as them to sing this song. It comes in and helps with that. So, you know, this was a masterpiece in my opinion,

and it taught me a lot. It taught me that we don't have to do all the things that people would expect for us to do, just do what you do. Yeah. And on a bigger level, I mean, it's amazing that African Americans are in the country scene. And you're one of the, I mean, that's,

I think that's one of the most important things is you guys are setting toll for young African Americans to do whatever they want. And that's why I'm mostly proud of you guys and like how I'm like, I get chills thinking about it that you guys are, you guys are legends to me. And to like, to go into the country scene where it's these like honky ass white people.

You know what I'm saying? Thank you. I'm just saying thank you so much. Cause I mean, they all stole it from the African Americans in the first place. So it's like, let's bring the power back. It's folk music. Yeah, I'm just so proud.

To even talk to you guys about this. How do you feel about it? Thank you Well, you have a sign behind you says break the rules make the money Damn, that is very appropriate You know, you got to break the rules. Nobody nobody wins playing is safe You know and we've been widely accepted when we moved to Nashville. We didn't have the horror stories of being, quote unquote, accepted.

We were arms wide open from Don Was to Buddy Miller, Buddy Miller to Emmylou Harris, just the community itself. And then we actually got thrusted into country music. It wasn't something that we chased after. There was a guy in Nashville who got arrested, so it was the names Peter Cooper, who and Lindsay Hayes actually introduced us to Peter Cooper, was our manager at the time, and he wanted us to come there to do a tribute. They were inducting Dottie Weston to the Country Music Hall of Fame. And it

just happened at this time, everybody in country music was there because it went to the medallion service. So everybody in country music that you can think of that are alive was in this room. And we happened to perform this song scared out of our head and scared as shit. She was scared. I was so scared. I'm a gangster. You know what I thought?

I thought this. It was all a dream. I used to be. Damn. I'm obsessed with you guys. And we perform it and when I say when it was over, there was just eruption of from everybody in country music. And now you got to be careful how you interpret that. Yeah.

Because the eruption could mean wow they killed it or it could mean i'm so glad this crap is over get out of here because um somebody is sitting in our presence right now and I Oftentimes in our story we we do start with buddy Miller But I want to tell you that journey you're talking about How do we feel about? You know being in this space today, and I don't want to take too much time to walk you through this But I want to tell you this

around 2017, Ty and I were literally, uh, you know, the people said at the end of the rope, I'm going to say we were at the end of the strand on the end of the road. Oh my God. I've been there a couple of times. We were like, okay, we were making the most we ever made for a gig was probably about 150 to 200. We had no other job. We just believed that we needed to be free for when the thing happened, that there's no strings holding us. There's no permissions we got to get. We just are free

when the thing pops loose. So we did everything we could. We went up and down those roads, Tanya booked 150 coffee houses. And I can tell you the most of the audience we ever had and it was about 25 people. But we performed like we were on a stadium stage. We gave those 25 people everything that we had.

And one thing we did was Ann Arbor Street Festival. And that was one of those moments there were like maybe 15 people in the audience on the streets of Ann Arbor, Michigan. And Ty and I, and this guitarist named Steve Oppie, we gave it all we had. And there was a booking agency there. And the guy on told me he wanted to talk to us about booking us. And as I had learned, that's your first step. Like, this is a clear indication that maybe you got something that people outside of your spirit need to hear. And so we were excited. I was so excited. I called the guy back and he just kept blowing me off. Just kept, yeah, I'll call

you back. And then I realized that those Hollywood terms are true. People were Hollywood all day. They didn't really believe. They were just caught up in the moment. But then somehow, some way, there was a young lady named Virginia Prater. She had an agency called Prater Day. And one conversation, just one, we both knew instantly, this was our girl, that her heart was in line with ours, her vision for herself and for us was aligned. She just thought we were dope. And I was like, well, you know what, it's on you, Virginia Prater is our girl.

No research, didn't look her up, didn't try to find out, because had I done any research, I would have learned that she's crazy as hell. Well, she is an agent to be fair. You gotta be crazy to do that. Yeah. Yeah.

You're going to be crazy. That'd be crazy. And I would have literally ran. However, I want to tell you this. What had you sweating again? That woman within a week almost had our entire calendar filled with dates. Oh my God. That paid us monies that we'd never seen before as a duo.

Oh my God. Edmonton Folk Festival, Winnipeg. I mean, like we were out of our own sphere, which gave us hope that, well, my God, whatever we've got, somebody at least thinks the world needs to see it. And I'm happy to announce that even today we are still with her in an even bigger capacity. Yeah, she runs our, we, we, we, we open up a management team. Virginia is the glue to it. We've added other great workers, but it starts with the story and the vision for

us. And, um, so I'm grateful that our journey and, and, and, and let me say this, she's a white girl. Now it's important that I put that out there because the lie that we are all fighting against is that we don't know how to do this together, right? In our country, always black versus white, black versus white, no other color exists except the black versus white. Right now, everything that the government does or that presidential officials or judicial systems,

whatever, it's either being done because of a black person or a white person. Right. But I'm proud to say that I know this woman by name. Yeah. Like, this isn't just a white woman working with a black couple. This is Virginia Prater. Her husband's name is Jason. They have two kids. Right family. Yes two sisters She has a beautiful parents, you know, Virginia loves tomatoes She has chickens

That look just like her Will understand what I'm saying because everything that I'm telling you is actually true. I know her. She knows us. And that is how we exist in country music. I know Dirk Spintley. I know Chris Stapleton. You know, I know uh, uh, these people. We know these people. Kaylee Hammack, you know, um, we know people by their

names because we've invested enough in each other to learn things about each other. Chris Stapleton, before his shows, he wears these goofy tennis shoes He wears these blue jeans and hoodies. You will never not catch him in a hoodie. He's gonna always put on a hoodie He's gonna walk around out back. He's gonna eat the same food Oh his tour as everyone else, yeah, he's not Hollywood dude, but he will steal away because he's shy. Yeah. He's shy. Like information and tidbits that most people, you know, they would not know about a person, but we get the privilege being in country music to say, hey, I actually know that artist.

That artist actually knows me. Yeah. And thank you for asking that question, Andy. Really, because I think that a big part of it is people are afraid to have conversations or afraid to open up that dialogue. So thank you asking, you know, how does it feel or even, you know, saying what you said, how happy it makes you, because I think that's a part of it for all of us to realize that not just the word treaty of doing a thing, we're all doing all doing it yeah you having us always doing a thing both of you you know so yeah there's two people there. Thanks for saying that because it is an important dialogue that people just just don't want to talk about and we need to talk about it to you know grow

as humans. You know? It's really profound how what he talked about, when it gets smaller and you get more intimate with people, how not divided do you realize we really are? Yeah. We have way more in common than we have not in common. And that's why, Michael, I wanted to ask you this.

You had a hard life. How hard is it to trust people? Oh, see, that's's mine I'm glad you asked that I've got a problem and then I, hey, those not stabs in the back, that's art. That's not art. Let me get it out, okay. But I'm designed that way to keep me pure. I'm designed that way to keep me calm, to keep me stable because I'm a war veteran.

I'm not just a regular veteran. I've gone to war. I've seen some things. I've shot, I've done things that in any other normal setting I go to jail for I'm not proud about right I Can't exit that life and still be guarded up Right because I'm looking for the war to create so that I can feel like I'm at my best I you know when you're trained as a veteran

so that I can feel like I'm at my best. You know, when you're trained as a veteran, or as a soldier, sorry, to be a lean, mean, killing fighting machine. People don't understand the civilian world that they mean what they say. I remove all your emotions, you got to remove your feeling. You have to literally not give a crap about what you're about to annihilate. It's fucking wild, dude. That's so wild. There's a human being you forget how to feel. So you come home and you got this look in your eye and you get zoned out.

You're not in tune. Nobody's talking like you talk. You know, if we count them to nine, you would say nine. I would say niner. Yeah Spell your name you would say um a n d y and i'm like, uh alpha november right My mind is trained to turn off. Yeah So I cannot be i've got to allow love

to constantly Keep me open. Now I'm safe because I've got people around me that give me their experiences and still let me decide, like, Hey man, I used to work with this individual. Back in the day, this is what my experience was with this individual. But people can change. And then now it's up to me to see what I need to see. And it's worked for me. I love people.

I love to have fun. I love to see people win. I love to be around people. I love to make people feel great. I want them to just feel good. But I love to make people feel great. I want them to just feel good, bro. I want to make them feel awesome. They deserve to feel it. And that's the life I like to live.

And when that gets threatened, I'm the complete opposite. When that's threatened, then I have to work on the PTSD because that's where PTSD starts rising. Damn. You didn't have to take LSD to get that philosophy Don't tell yeah, tell me about that How hard is it is when he starts shutting down like cuz you're a partner's so like you see him start shutting down what how do you get him back to life oh wait wait she might not be able to tell you that part that's that's it details that's why they have a kid It is relaxing. It's amazing.

Secrets. No, I love it. Nick had a great question to ask about. I was I was interested in your career, you know, your veteran career. I was just wondering, like, what in that in military prepared you best for the music industry? Is there anything you took for that? Like, what did you learn from that was it was most valuable working in music? um the unexpected Time of death. Oh shit

And man Nick, thank you for that question honest, I mean like listen y'all are good at what y'all do Thank you. There's a moment where what y'all do as a profession pauses. And this is that moment because it causes me to reflect in a way I haven't before. And that's the first thing to come to my mind, the unexpected time of death. Imagine this, the four of us are sitting here talking, we hanged this phone call up and the next call y'all get is something that has taken place and it has taken me out of here. I'm no longer alive, breathing, talking, present.

It was just that fast. You know, that's almost every day in the military. Oh my God, so scary. And that's how I found songwriting. I literally, I had a couple of guys killed and in order for me to sort through how I felt about that, I had to write a song. I had to write the song about those guys and that kind of thing. I had to really go back to how we existed together. And some of them were dreamers.

Because you know, when you take the uniform off, you're still present, right? And some of those dreams will never come true. And that is what makes it so sacred and special because now I've got an opportunity to talk about my battle buddies and do what I did in the military. I wrote songs. I literally started writing songs about the fallen and performing them in the memorial services. And, you know, I don't listen, man. Does that Brian hits and how fast he gets it in Noacon, all on people and all the hit makers right the hits um It I don't care um

Somebody is They need to hear my voice. They need to hear time. They need to experience our songs because They are about to make a very bad decision. Hmm are about to make a very bad decision. Something about to take their life, the unexpected time of death. It's this week, a guy who used to play the guitar for us who we had to let go. Some years ago, we learned that this guy, let's go up himself. And he's no longer with us. That is what I've learned most is the unexpected time of death never take for granted the space you're sharing with someone else. It's important. It's important for you guys to know for me to have paused

in rooms like this and what y'all do is great, but here's the reality of what y'all do. Sometimes it makes a person on the other end go, whoa, I haven't thought about this. Sometimes what y'all do makes them feel so important, so special that it drives them to the next thing and they needed that energy, they needed that gasoline going to their car to get going. You know, that's the same with what we do. So that's what I've learned most, and especially Nick in the war. Michael, I'm clapping to you. That's unbelievable.

No wonder he can write. Oh my God. Oh God, that gave me chills, man. I'm such a loser. I'm like, I'm such a piece of shit. I feel like I'm such a piece of shit after just hearing your story like that. No, but you're totally right.

And you never know when it's your turn to leave the party or this beautiful life. And we can't, I mean, it's hard to think about the past, especially when the past was so tough, but it's good to talk about the past so we could know that we survived the past, especially when the past was so tough, but it's good to talk about the past so we could know that we survived the past. And I love that term he used, he let go of himself in the real world for it.

I'm going to use that from now on. Yeah, me too. Well, you guys are making me a better person. Thank you so much for this. And you're amazing singers. We didn't even talk about that. Yeah, and we didn't even talk about how fucking good you are.

Everybody knows. They're already here. They know. So what's up next? Like, what are you writing? How, what's the next for Musical.ly? Big album. How you feeling?

You guys feeling inspired? Valentine's Day album, right? Of course we have the record coming out, February 14th, but, and a tour, but we were writing right now. We're already working on the next record and the record after that and you know, it's always a creative process Especially, you know being married. This is never every day is something creative and we're always thinking about okay What we're gonna do ten years from now, so we're just writing, you know and and finding creative ways to get our music heard and to touch People what was the first song you guys wrote together that you felt like, damn, this is special? We got something here. Yeah.

Song called I am love. What's it about? I'm just kidding. The place where time stands still for us. Your shiverings and my sweet sexing, together we can bring back what the world has said is gone. You're done here. We're done here. I'm so glad I play saxophone and I don't sing. Guys, I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed.

I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed.

I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed. I'm quitting music. Yeah, I'm quitting too. We're done. We're done here. Guys, this has just been a true treat. I am so honored to even be part of your presence. I'm

in Nashville a lot. Let's try to hang out one of these times and try to get, have some. Yeah, let's do that. Let's write a tune together sometime. Let me get a sax solo on that I love it. Well, I got that one right there. Oh God that gave me chills guys You guys are masters and just how humble and how much you love each other just it gives me hope that I'm gonna find a person Like you guys found each other. So thank you for that. I got one last question for you and I'll let you go. When it's all said and done,

what do you guys wanna be remembered by? Let's see if we both say the same thing. One word, let's see, let's see. You got yours? Got yours? I got mine. You got yours? You don't want me to wait for you to say yours first.

No, no, we're gonna say the same thing and see if we're in line. Okay. The one thing we'll be remembered for. Ready? One, no, we're going to say the same thing. See where you're lying. The one thing we'll be remembering. Ready? One, two, three. Love. What did she say?

He says love. I'm a woman. I add more words. You said lettuce. I said lettuce. You want to be known for lettuce. Lettucey of love. No, love.

No. Yeah. I just want to say that. I'm going to say that. I'm going to say that. I'm going to say that. I'm going to say that. I'm going to say that. I'm going to say that. I'm going to say that. I'm going know if that's a thing. You must be the one for lettuce. No, love. Yeah. I just want to be, you know, I will tell you Nick and Annie this and Tanya can shoot me down and say I'm lying or whatever.

But I've always since the day she walked into my life, I always said to her that when I die, I want to be the one that never lied to her. That said, I love you, meant it. That stood by everything that I said I would do. And I don't care what anyone else says about me, that when I die, if I should leave this world before Tanya, I want her to be able to stand up at my funeral with pride and joy to say he was everything that y'all saw. To me.

And I did. I did. Oh, God. You should write a book. Yeah. Please do. Or have a podcast. You two couples just talking about talking it out.

Thank God. Maybe be marriage counselors. Yeah, or just be a marriage. Or I'm just going to call you nasty for relationship advice. All right, guys. Well, enjoy your day in LA. Thank you so much for everything. Go check out the new record coming out on Valentine's Day. My birthday is February 11th, so I'm excited. I'm Aquarius. I'm going to get you the final for your birthday. I'm going to love baby. Yeah, please, Nick. I'll be honored. All right, guys. Have a great day and keep inspiring the world because we're listening. Thank you.

See you all later, man. You guys are the best. Happy birthday. Thank you. Bye, guys. Bye. You've just tuned into the World Saving Podcast with Andy Frasco, produced by Andy Frasco, Joe Angelhowe, and Chris Lorenz. Please help us save the world by subscribing and rating the show on volume.com, Apple, Spotify, or wherever you're listening so we can spread the word and save the world.

Follow us on Instagram at World Saving Podcast for updates for tour dates, merch, and whatever crazy special event Andy thinks of next, check out andyfrasco.com. Special thanks to this week's guest, courtesy of our talent booker, Mara Davis, That's Me, or Andy's other mother. Be your best and we'll talk to you next week for another great episode of the World Saving Podcast.