New Artists To Watch: One on One With Haley & Micheals

We recently discovered Haley & Michaels on Spotify a few months back and loved their sound and talent. We love to feature new and up and coming artists on Country Music Pride, and if you haven’t heard of Haley & Michaels yet, you need to know about these guys!!!

We had the privilege of getting to know the country duo a little better and are excited to share with you so that you as fans you can get to know them a little better as well!

On how they became Haley & Michaels…

Country Music Pride: Tell us about the first time you guys met and performed together…how did you know you had a future together?

Haley & Michaels: We were introduced by our guitar player, who was playing in both of our solo bands at the time, and we connected at a coffee shop called The Frothy Monkey in Nashville. Within the first few minutes we found out that we actually grew up three miles apart in Northern California, but never knew each other. We sang together for the first time during one of Ryan’s shows at The Roxy Theater in Los Angeles. When we first started singing, that’s the first time we knew we had a future together…at least in the musical sense.

On being married and working together in the country music industry…

Country Music Pride: You are a husband and wife duo, do you find it more challenging or rewarding in your careers?

Haley & Michaels: Being a husband and wife duo can be challenging at times because sometimes work can bleed into the relationship. However, overall it is so rewarding to be sharing our dreams with each other. We get to share our passion and do so many exciting things together and when we prioritize music, we both understand. Also, we spent a ton of time on the road this summer, and we feel so lucky that we get to be together while we are away from home.

Country Music Pride: What do you to do keep a happy balance between work and marriage?

Haley & Micheals: We’ve really learned how to divide and conquer with work. We used to sit together to compose every single business email, etc. Now, we’ve learned who’s best at what. We also make an effort to set aside date night and we have a rule that we’re not allowed to talk about music, unless it’s someone else’s music.

Country Music Pride: What do you enjoy most about being able to work together as husband and wife?

Haley & Michaels: Probably the best part is when we write a song that we are both extremely excited about. Then we get to go home and talk about it and obsess over it, even if it’s in the middle of the night.

On writing music together…and working on new music!

Country Music Pride: “The Price I Pay” was the first song you guys wrote together, what was your inspiration behind the song?

Haley & Michaels: All we knew is that we wanted to sing together, without a lead singer. We really wanted to make the song feel like a conversation. One of us started playing the guitar part, and the other started singing “The Price I Pay” and it all kind of fell out from there. Even though it was a total break up song, we joke that that was the song we fell in love to while writing.

Country Music Pride: Your new single “Give It All To You” is already getting rave reviews; can you give us some background on the song?

Haley & Michaels: When we got engaged we were on a radio tour and hardly at home. Shannon planned most of the wedding in between radio visits in the most random places (sometimes even from the gross bathrooms at gas stations). We never really found time to write our vows since we had no great space for it. One day we got snowed in during an ice storm and we sat down to finally write our vows and accidentally came up with the song.

We never really thought that anybody besides our family and friends would hear it, but our home-town radio station KRTY started playing it, and The Highway added it as well. People started reaching out to us and it kind of took on a life of it’s own. It is honestly our favorite part of our journey so far when we find out that people have used this song for their wedding. It is such an honor.

Country Music Pride: You are in the studio making new music for 2016, what can fans expect from you?

Haley & Michaels: We are really excited to release new music! We’ve gotten to write with some of our favorite writers, and have also done more writing just the two of us. We will still be singing duets that feel like a conversation and show two different perspectives, and we will still focus on the topic of relationships, but all of our songs won’t necessarily feel like “Giving It All (To You)”. While we do sing positive love songs, our next project will also have songs that focus on other sides of relationships and it will have certain songs with lots of energy.

On performing their favorite songs, artists and career highlights…

Country Music Pride: What is your favorite song to perform? (I personally love your cover of 500 Miles!)

Haley & Michaels: Thank you! We love performing 500 Miles because people don’t really expect us to do that song in that way. But probably our favorite song to perform right now is “Giving It All (To You)” just because it still feels so surreal.

Country Music Pride: Who have been your favorite artists to perform with?

Haley & Michaels: We loved performing with Old Dominion. It was just so fun to get to watch their show afterwards and they are the nicest guys. We also loved playing with Chris Young. It’s just wonderful to hear him sing. He is so good. Of course, opening for the great Martina McBride was a “pinch yourself moment” and hearing her thank us on stage was the best.

Country Music Pride: What has been the highlight of your career thus far?

Haley & Micheals: This has been an amazing year for us. It’s hard to choose between our debut at The Grand Ole Opry and performing our wedding song on The Today Show. We are so grateful that these milestones have happened for us. The Grand Ole Opry has been our longest standing dream and standing in the circle was a the highlight of a lifetime.

Country Music Pride: 2014-2015 have been pretty eventful for you guys already, how would you like to see the next 5 years of your life musically go for you?

Haley & Micheals: We are grateful for every year that goes by where we are able to make music for a living. The next 5 years have a lot music in store and we hope we can tour as much as possible to continue to connect to people through our songs.

And a fun fact about Haley & Michael you may not know…

 Country Music Pride: What is something fun your fans may not know about you guys or you would like them to know about you?  

 Haley & Michaels: Ryan has made up multiple nursery rhyme songs for Shannon and she makes him sing them every day. But despite her best efforts, he will never share them with anybody else.

In conclusion, Haley & Michaels have already had a lot of success under their belts. They released four singles in the course of a year, released an EP, they have performed at some of the most impressive and memorable shows, they got engaged and married, and are currently in the studio working on their full-length album.

That is quite an amazing start to their career in 2014-2015, and from all of the mutual respect, admiration, and adoration the two of them have for other as his/her musical and life partner, their future holds no limits and we are so excited to see what that future holds for them.

Make sure to follow Haley & Michaels on TwitterFacebook, and their website, and check out their new single “Giving It All (To You)” below.

You can also head over to Spotify to check out some of Haley and Michael’s greatest hits!

 

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