Men’s style, packing tips, and more with country powerhouse Haley & Michaels

haley & michaels feature story image

Men’s style, packing tips, and more with country powerhouse Haley & Michaels

We’re back at it again with country music sensation Haley and Michaels. This time we’re talking men’s style, packing tips, music, and more.

Let’s meet at the Ace Hotel

Our meeting was scheduled on a warm Tuesday morning at the Ace Hotel. Upon arrival our founder, Michael William G, shot over a text to the duo’s publicist. As our eyes adjusted to the low lighting their publicist whisked us to the back of the hotel’s lobby.

Here’s a snap of the chic hotel as we arrived.

Out here in these streets! ?✊ No, literally hustling in the streets of NYC interviewing music sensations at the @acehotel , taking calls, running between meetings for @manedgedmag ? #nyc #work #grind

Shannon Haley and Ryan Michaels sat laughing with one another on one of the hotel’s leather couches looking very stylish. We were automatically mesmerized by the musicians natural charisma. Haley was wearing a chic beaded blouse as Michaels wore a classic shirt and jeans look.

After a few moments of small talk, we headed upstairs to a quiet room to chat about everything from men’s style, packing tips, and music. Check out Haley & Michaels in our recent post highlighting why we fell in love with Country music by clicking here.

The interview

There we were with the two most buzzed about people in the world of Country music. We began by asking questions to help our readers get acquainted.

To our delight, both Haley & Michaels are from the bay area. Haley is from Los Altos and Michaels is from Palo Alto. We all began to break out into conversation and share our love for the bay area. Both of the artist’s family are back west and they tend to head back during the holidays, often mixing work and play. 

We immediately noticed that Haley & Michaels had a certain aura that pulls you in. We wondered if fans gravitated towards the duo too. Here’s what they had to say about being spotted around town.

MAN’edged: Do people recognize you when you’re at the grocery store back home?

Haley: It’s super random!

Michaels: It’s still surprising. We’ve been out nationally. Not on the scale that we’re striving for, but just enough. Locally we’ve had a lot of support from KRTY, which is a huge country station we grew up listening to.

MAN: That’s a dream come true right there. That must have catapulted you into some public fame.

M: Yeah, it is! They’ve supported us a lot, so sometimes we’ll just go on. Sometimes in our pajamas and every once in a while someone will recognize us and we’re like ‘uh oh!’.

H: We always tend get recognized at the worst times.

MAN: It’s always when you least expect it or are not feeling presentable.

When asked about that moment they knew they were going to be in music, Haley said that she was “one of those kids that had been singing my entire life”. We found it fascinating to learn that she originally was enrolled in an opera program during her collegiate years. She was 20 years old when she decided to switch out of her opera program and became 100% committed to pursuing her career as a  songwriter/singer. She also mentioned that this was, “A really big transition for me in college”.

In contrast to Haley’s highly poised musical background, Michaels had a musical journey of his own. He wore the more rugged ultra cool dude look. Growing up in a music store that his family owned, he unknowingly grew up down the street from where Haley lived.