Country acts lined up for 2014 Garlic Fest

In addition to all the great garlicky food, visitors to the 2014 Gilroy Garlic Festival July 25-27 will also enjoy live music and entertainment on three stages. Country music fans are in for a special treat this year, with three of country’s hottest new acts—Brothers Osborne, Ryan Kinder and Haley & Michaels—performing live Saturday on the Vineyard Stage.
Brothers Osborne
John and TJ Osborne grew up in a close-knit musical family in Maryland, forming a band with their eclectic father and playing cover songs from Lynyrd Skynyrd to Merle Haggard to Bob Seger. After moving to Nashville, they formed Brothers Osborne, with John on guitar and TJ on vocals and guitar. With a record deal from Capitol Records, they are currently in the studio finishing their debut album, which they describe as “aggressive, bold, and fragile at times.”
Rolling Stone Country magazine recently named Brothers Osborne one of the “10 Artists You Need to Know,” praising the group’s “mix of unabashedly catchy choruses and soulful, washboard grooves … with folky slow burners, capitalizing on a diverse instrumental repertoire—dirty Delta bass lines, keys dancing on hot coals and even a rhythm banged out on the arm of a cheap futon. Oh, and plenty of cowbell.”
Ryan Kinder
For Alabama native Ryan Kinder, it’s all about the music. Whether he dons his favorite boots or his vintage Chuck Taylors when he takes the stage, the music is what demands audiences’ attention and defines this up-and-coming sensation with a soulful Southern sound. “I just let the music do the talking,” Kinder said.
Raised in Birmingham, Ala., Kinder is a Southern gentleman who values faith, family and sports. When Kinder discovered the innovative guitar riffs of John Mayer’s debut album, “Room for Squares,” he began teaching himself to play. Now working on his own full-length album slated to be released in 2014, this young up-and-comer is surely poised for a soaring music career that will keep him on the road, in the spotlight—and on the radio.
Haley & Michaels
For the award-winning country duo known as Haley & Michaels, the Gilroy Garlic Festival is a kind of homecoming. Shannon Haley and Ryan Michaels are Bay Area natives who grew up just three miles apart—she’s from Los Altos, and he lived in Palo Alto—but didn’t connect until a guitar player friend introduced them in Nashville. Today, the well-blended harmonies of Haley & Michaels are catching on fire and captivating music lovers across the country.  In 2013, their single “The Price I Pay” was awarded for Best Video and Song of the Year, and the duo was named Best Live Country Performers and Artist of the Year at the Nashville Independent Music Awards. Their current single is “Just Another Love Song.”
Both Shannon and Ryan admit there’s something that is almost electric when the two combine their musical talents.
Discount tickets are available online at gilroygarlicfestival.com and at Raley’s, Bel Air and Nob Hill Foods.