The Spooky Roots of Americana Music

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The story of Burn the Treaty, the explosive emerging duo of indie singer/songwriter Morgan Bracy and rocker Scott Carter, is one of powering through disappointment and heartache to find hope on the other side, and never giving up on finding one’s truest mode of expression no matter the odds. Driven by a hybrid folk, country, Americana and rock vibe they dub “Spooky Roots,” the Nashville based musical and life partners tap into life’s crazy roller coaster of emotions on their hard hitting, stylistically eclectic debut EP Sticks and Stones. The project was produced by Mitch Dane (Jars of Clay, Blind Boys of Alabama) at Sputnik Sound and features some of Music City’s top session players. 

The fascinating road that led Morgan (lead vocals, guitar) and Carter (guitar, vocal harmonies) to fall in love and ultimately decide to create new chapters in their musical lives began five years ago, after both had taken long hiatuses from performing and recording. When the two met in 2013, both were ready for a fresh creative beginning. Bracy had released two well received independent pop/country albums (Dirty Laundry, End of Cinderella) but, in the wake of a major life change, had to choose survival over music and entered the corporate world. Carter was a rock and roller whose Chattanooga based band Madfish Willy played festivals, local bars and scored some radio airplay. 

The two met around a campfire in a hidden cabin community in the middle of the Nantahala National Forest in North Carolina one midnight. They were asked to come play music for an annual pig roast the community holds, and the two literally met as they played across the fire from each other. Though Morgan and Scott hit it off immediately, it took them a while to write a song together that gelled and they both loved. Once Scott moved to Nashville, they got married and found their groove while writing and producing the music that evolved into Sticks and Stones.    

The rollicking yet dark toned blues-rock-country opener “Murky Moon” uses a cloud filled night as a metaphor for the way life’s most important things get lost in the day to day shuffle. At its core, it’s another gratitude song – but reminds us how hard it is to find and feel. The searing blues/country closer “Volcano” is pure catharsis, the unleashing emotions of a woman scorned once too often.  “Grateful” is a powerful reminder to herself to focus more on what we have than what we lack in the present moment. 

A classic styled country ballad with blues/rock undertones, the country soul mid-tempo “Sticks and Stones” twists the phrase we know from childhood into the reality that, yes, words can sting and their pain can linger. The closing track “Fool’s Gold” sharply expresses the way Morgan has come to redefine success as more than simply chasing after money. It starts out gently, as if she is speaking to her daughter and teaching a lesson of hard-won wisdom, then becomes more introspective and ends in a rock-fueled creed of “fool me once, but you’ll never fool me again.”