Austin, TX
War & Treaty Call Out Cotton Plant Found in Festival Dressing Room: 'It Just Shouldn't Happen'
The War & Treaty have spent the last year gracing award show stages, garnering Grammy nominations, and even earning their first-ever platinum single. But for artists of color in the country and Americana space, success and acclaim doesn’t mean escaping the litany of microaggressions and racist assumptions built into these spaces of the music industry.
Last weekend, before performing at the Coca-Cola Sips & Sounds Festival in Austin, the husband-and-wife duo encountered a startling sight in their dressing room: a cotton plant. The plant was simple green room decoration, but in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the duo discussed the ways in which the plant represented a larger issue of predominantly white spaces in the industry failing to make artists of color feel welcome or safe.
“We went back and forth, wondering if we should speak out on this incident,” the band said on Instagram, after the story’s publication. “Ultimately, we knew this issue was bigger than just us.”
In a statement to Rolling Stone, festival organizers apologized for what they called “an honest mistake.”
“We are disheartened that the artists were ever uncomfortable at last weekend’s event,” the statement reads. “There was no purposeful harm intended, and we sincerely apologize. Their concern was met with immediate action, including a heartfelt in-person apology, removal of the decor and a personal conversation with the artists by event organizers.”
In the interview with THR, Michael and Tanya Trotter detailed the cycle of emotions they were forced to feel after encountering the cotton plant.
“Anger is what I felt,” said Michael, a veteran. “Disrespect is what I felt. Sadness is what I felt. Sadness not just because of what that plant represents to people that look like me but sadness for myself because I am a son of this country.”
For Tanya, the daughter of a sharecropper, the thoughtless room decoration served as a harmful reminder of her family’s past. “ It’s not my position to educate anybody on what cotton is and what it represents in this country,” she said. “It just shouldn’t happen.”
Left unsaid is that of the ten artists playing the main stage over the two-day music festival, the War & Treaty were the only non-white artists amidst a lineup of white acts performing blues, soul, and rap. A representative for the Coca-Cola Sips & Sounds Festival did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone‘s request for comment.
The decision to speak out weighed on the group, now signed to a major label, that has developed a reputation (once they’ve tried to shed) of being feel-good cultural bridgebuilders ever since their 2018 debut Healing Tide. “We’re not the kumbaya cats that people may want to paint on us,” Michael Trotter told Rolling Stone in 2020. “We intentionally wanted to focus on healing with Healing Tide, but we might’ve given off the wrong impression in saying that we are the healers…We are the most hopeful cats.”
More recently, the band released its latest single, “Called You By Your Name,” a bluesy rave they performed last month at CMA Fest.
William “Bill” B. Moriarty, of Austin, Texas, passed away on April 26, 2026, at the age of 73, following an extended battle with cancer. A devoted partner, father, brother, uncle, an…
WIMBERLY, Texas – The names of all five people killed in the Central Texas plane crash late Thursday night have been released.
Plane crash victim names
The latest:
According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, the names of the five victims in the Wimberly, Texas crash are as follows:
- Justin Appling (pilot)
- Hayden Dillard
- Seren Wilson
- Brooke Skypala
- Stacy Hedrick
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) investigators are on scene and serving as the lead investigative agencies, DPS said in their Saturday release.
What we don’t know:
The cause of the crash has yet to be determined.
Fatal Texas plane crash
The backstory:
Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra says first responders received the call just after 11 p.m. April 30 about an aircraft down in the Wimberley area.
The crash happened in a wooded area in the 200 block of Round Rock Road, near the area of Ledgerock Road and FM 2325, northwest of Wimberley. The NTSB says the crash happened at around 11:03 p.m.
A post-impact fire destroyed the plane, says the NTSB.
According to FlightAware, the plane was on its way to New Braunfels from Amarillo.
The aircraft has been identified as a Cessna 421C that had five people on board. All five are confirmed dead.
A preliminary investigation shows the plane was traveling at a high rate of speed at the time of the crash, but there is no indication of a mid-air crash. A second plane traveling in the same area landed safely in New Braunfels.
Flight tracking data shows the plane had a normal takeoff, climbing to 17,400 feet, but just before 11 p.m., something went wrong. The data showed the plane suddenly started dropped, plunging more than 5,000 feet per minute. Within minutes, radar contact was lost.
The Source: Information in this update comes from the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Five people were killed when a small private plane crashed and caught fire near Austin, Texas, according to state and local officials. A pickleball club identified the victims as members who were traveling to a tournament.
The crash happened at about 11:05 p.m. on Thursday in the Wimberley area, about 40 miles southwest of Austin, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety and Hays County officials. The FAA said the aircraft was a Cessna 421C.
Sgt. Billy Ray with the Texas Department of Public Safety said all five people on board were killed, including one pilot and four passengers. He also confirmed that the plane caught fire after the crash.
The Amarillo Pickleball Club identified the victims as Seren Wilson, Brooke Skypala, Stacy Hedrick, Glen Appling and Hayden Dillard. The club said they were members of its “Amarillo pickleball family” and were traveling to a pickleball tournament when the crash happened.
“Today, the Club has received terrible news that we all must mourn in the loss of five members of our Amarillo pickleball family,” the club said in a statement. “Please keep their precious families in your thoughts and prayers.”
Fire and EMS personnel remained at the crash site through the early morning hours, according to Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra. Preliminary information indicated the aircraft was traveling at a high rate of speed at the time of impact.
Becerra said there was no indication of a mid-air collision. A second aircraft that was flying nearby landed safely in New Braunfels, a city northeast of San Antonio.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash.
-
Detroit, MI2 minutes agoDetroit school district to showcase student stars at Fox Theatre
-
San Francisco, CA13 minutes agoAudit says San Francisco Zoo spent $12M without required approval
-
Dallas, TX20 minutes agoFC Dallas vs New York Red Bulls: Highlights and stats
-
Miami, FL26 minutes agoF1: How to Watch the 2026 Miami Grand Prix
-
Boston, MA32 minutes agoWorkers at the ICA in Boston opt to unionize – The Boston Globe
-
Denver, CO38 minutes agoHunter Lawrence wins Denver Supercross, heads to finale one point behind Ken Roczen
-
Seattle, WA44 minutes agoSeattle Mariners’ Raleigh day-to-day with ‘general soreness’
-
San Diego, CA50 minutes agoSan Diego Padres vs. Los Angeles Dodgers (June 26-28)