GTG Records announces The Wild Honey Collective + Jeremy Porter Together + Separate Southeast USA 2025 Tour! Lansing, Michigan’s award winning cosmic-folk-country-rock band The Wild Honey Collective team up with Detroit’s alt-country-powerpop-rock songwriter Jeremy Porter for a run through the Midwest and Southeastern states. The shows will feature the two entities both separately and together in various incarnations, collaborating on each other’s music in a classic-country revue-style setting.
For information about times, local support, and other details, please visit our websites and the venues’ websites or reach out directly.
Another “mini-album” collection, blooming as summer ends much like the vibrant Solidago (Goldenrod) lining the roadsides and horizons of Michigan. Just as the plant symbolizes healing and prosperity (“to make whole,” per one folklore phrase), this collection of tunes rounds up the scattered byproducts of the “Volume 3” sessions with a handful of spontaneous new recordings that point the way to the next phase of Wild Honey Collective. This time we’ve got 3 band originals (including one originally done by The Plurals and another – in an alternate mix – featuring Dead Honey Collective), the first studio sessions to feature Jack as a band member, another Carter Family traditional favorite, songs originally recorded by Lemonheads and Gene Clark, plus contributions from a range of friends including the ubiquitous Jerry Wenger, the future of music Liam, Medium Build low-end anchor Steve Hartmann, and the finely tuned ears of Rick Johnson.
Mixed and Mastered by Rick Johnson. Recorded Winter 2023 – Summer 2025, mostly by Tommy at McGorgers/GTG House South with sessions at Patty’s Lake House, Holiday Drive, and GTG House. “The Outdoor Type” primarily recorded by Rick at Cold War Studios. Additional recording by Timmy, Adam, Jerry, and Liam.
Tommy McCord – vocals, acoustic guitar, mandolin, electric 6 and 12 string guitar, bass Danielle Gyger – vocals, fiddle Adam Aymor – pedal steel guitar, dobro, electric guitar Timmy Rodriguez – vocals, bass Dan O’Brien – vocals, acoustic guitar, upright bass, harmonica, baritone guitar Joel Kuiper – drums, percussion Jack Schueler – vocals, acoustic guitar (“Wild Honey,” “Through Munising,” “Wildwood Flower”) Jerry Wenger – upright bass (“Wildwood Flower) Nicholas Merz – vocals, bass (“Through Munising”) Steve Hartmann – bass (“The Outdoor Type”) Liam VanDerHeide – electric guitar (“Train Leaves Here”)
Out now – 3 original songs by Dead Honey Collective, recorded in spring of 2025. 2 original songs by Jack Schueler, plus the summer 2025 Joel Kuiper-penned single “Through Munising” (featuring the whole Wild Honey Collective). YouTube / Spotify / Apple
Tommy says: The lines between these projects is intentionally blurry, reflecting the improvisational spirit at its core. Wild Honey Collective has always been a dynamic musical project, and along the way we organically started including country and folk songs with Grateful Dead/Jerry Garcia project associations (“I Know You Rider,” “Shady Grove,” “Dreadful Wind and Rain,” “Sing Me Back Home,” “Mama Tried” etc). At a very early Wild Honey performance we were lucky to have Jack Schueler in the audience, who immediately identified the formative influences of the band, beginning a friendship and gradual series of collaborations and sit-ins. When we (Adam, Joel, and myself) started exploring the improv-heavy Wilderhoney spinoff, it was a natural entry point for Jack to play more, and since Nicholas Merz had sang on our latest EP he was tapped to play bass. We did approximately one-and-a-half shows as “Wilderhoney” before it became obvious that we should focus on exploring the rootsy-angle of the Dead since it was such a big part of our musical venn diagram. Thus, at the beginning of 2024 we started performing as Dead Honey Collective, with no plan besides playing music from all of our catalogs and leaning on the country/folk edges of the Dead (including New Riders of the Purple Sage, Old & In The Way, Jerry Garcia Band, et al), and from the first set it was obvious that we should keep doing this. Now we have original songs, a huge catalog of Dead-family material, plenty of other things we play just for fun, and the whole “collective” continues to create together. Now we’ve gotta get some live recordings together…
Summer 2025 – the hazy vision of the “collective” has reached a new peak with the release of the song “Through Munising.” An original composition by Joel Kuiper, Tommy McCord’s lead vocal and musical arrangement was worked up amidst our Grateful Dead-focused Dead Honey Collective shows and elevated by Jack Schueler’s brilliant guitar playing and harmony vocal singing. The propulsive rhythm section of Joel and Nicholas Merz provided the perfect foundation for Adam Aymor’s celestial pedal steel workouts and the ensuing harmony interplay between Adam, Jack, and Tommy. The basic track was cut live in Tommy’s basement in March, at which point the rest of the principal Wild Honey Collective players – Danielle Gyger, Timmy Rodriguez, and Dan O’Brien – sweetened the arrangement with additional singing, fiddle, and harmonica. Adam mixed the recording, resulting in one of the purest pieces of collaboration in the Honey & GTG musical universe. An ode to a beautiful drive through the Upper Peninsula, with hints of a melancholy reality creeping in on the edges, “Through Munising” is a wonderful piece of collective creativity that we’re proud to deliver into the weird world of 2025.
Joel Kuiper – drums, composition Tommy McCord – lead vocals, guitar, recording Jack Schueler – harmony vocals, guitar Adam Aymor – pedal steel, mixing Nicholas Merz – bass, harmony vocals Danielle Gyger – harmony vocals, fiddle Timmy Rodriguez – harmony vocals Dan O’Brien – harmonica
GTG once again partnered with Madlantis Records to issue the 2024 full-length Fields Of None by the great No Skull. Primary writer and band mainstay RK Andrews is joined on this record by Jason Wicks on guitar and GTG veteran Dave Shilakes on drums and the power trio’s steel trap chops are on display throughout all 8 of the album’s tracks (with the vinyl presented as two side-long unbroken pieces of music). While the album may be titled after a Dark Tower reference, and “doom” may be a common genre umbrella these guys fall under, the album has a unique melodicism that colors the gloom in a bizarrely catchy way, leaving the listener in an unexpectedly bright headspace when the album is over. These guys do it right – the basic sound of it is a band playing live and the production effects are used tastefully. This record, as with most of No Skull/RK Andrews releases, was engineered and mixed by Corey Derushia, and the warm, heavy sounds of Fields Of None immediately show why they continue to work together.
Random notes – the record release party for Fields Of None was the final show at our longtime GTG House venue (2006-2024!). Hattie Plural and Adam Aymor have cameos on this record too – Adam almost made an appearance on every single GTG release of the 2024. So close!
The original concept of a rotating “collective” was slightly shifted by Wild Honey’s 2020 official inception being contemporaneous to a pandemic, thus limiting the pool of players into somewhat of a core band, but once the live music industry settled back into a regular groove different lineups and collaborations started naturally occurring. One steady lineup in the mix has been the improv-heavy duo of Tommy and Adam, so while the “full six” Wild Honey Collective band chipped away at lining up recording schedules for the Volume 3 LP, relaxed recordings started happening at Adam’s house with drummer Joel helping out (and eventually, some vocal assists by Danielle and the Rueful Duo of Nicholas and Jenny). The result, from essentially just two unplanned afternoon recording sessions, was this 6-track side EP that adds to the Wild Honey catalog while also serving as its own little path in the wilderness. In keeping with the general Wild Honey Collective composition, there’s arrangements of traditional folk songs informed by the ever-present Dead/Byrds-mid/late 20th century stew, an original song, a cover of a Jeremy Porter song, and, to shake things up, an actual Byrds cover and some Sonic Youth. Like the amorphous catalogs of these Collective inspirations, most of these tunes have made it into the performances of all the Wild Honey variants, lighting the way of yet another path forward for the musical future.
The stage was set by the 2022 debut EP and a handful of compilation appearances/singles for this Lansing gloomy indie rock trio to truly come into their own on the excellent The Ashen Glow (co-released by our family at Silver Maple Kill Records). The vocals of Jennifer Toms and Nicholas Merz are likely the initial draw for many – and with good reason as they expertly share lead and backing vocal duties, weaving in and out of parts with their wide ranges and differing approaches to “soft” and “heavy” styles. But the music is certainly no slouch, with Todd Karinen’s drums perfectly serving the songs with their pummel, forming a rock-solid rhythm section with Jenny’s bass while Nicholas’ grunge-jazz-noise-pop guitar covers each song with even more hooks. This record (and band in general) has elements of new wave, sludge, punk, and psychedelia, and put simply there’s something for anyone that’s enjoyed so-called “alternative rock” made in the last 40 years. A Rueful Noise also delivers the goods live, immediately showing that the musical and vocal feats of The Ashen Glow are not the results of mere studio magic – but they (and recording/ mixing engineer Jason Roedel) certainly did a hell of a job capturing it on record.
Wild Honey Collective has had a prolific first four years as a band – 3 LPs, 2 EPs, some comp tracks, and over 200 shows covering both peninsulas of Michigan and various midwest, east coast and New England spots. Volume 3 is the most “band” record of the bunch, primarily made by the regular live performing sextet of Tommy McCord, Danielle Gyger, Adam Aymor, Timmy Rodriguez, Dan O’Brien, and Joel Kuiper, but the formula of the first two Volumes continues with the record consisting of original songs, songs written by friends of the band, folk standards, string band tunes, and rootsy covers. It’s all kind of a blur but the sweet vocals and aching sounds of pedal steel and fiddle cut through the fog and, boy, it’s amazing this whole thing started as a way to keep our sanity during pandemic lockdown. The collective is rolling down the road and picking up new collaborators and spitting out new spinoffs all the time, come hang!
This record really ties together the punk rock history of GTG Records and the modern country/Americana etc that lots of us are playing these days. Jeremy’s done it all, and probably better than the rest of us, with Dynamite Alley blending powerpop, classic rock, country, and diversions into Latin music and a string-laden Scorpions cover. Now that’s how solo albums are supposed to be! The supporting players include The Tucos, Wild Honey Collective (including a song worked up on a joint tour in 2021 where Jeremy played in the band), Jay from Drive-By-Truckers, and many more talented folks from the Detroit scene and beyond. The varied styles and players hang together with Jeremy’s earnest vocal delivery and engaging song characters – elements that are certainly also part of The Tucos material but really shine here with the mellower backing. Michigan music veteran Tim Patalan manned the studio controls alongside Gabriel Doman, bringing the disparate studio environments into a cohesive whole that ties the whole year’s release catalog together.
At last, the final installment in the trilogy of EPs that started with 2010’s …Are On The Run (an all-time great release in the GTG catalog) and, like any good third act, this one is weirder, denser, and incredibly confident in its execution, leaving the listener slightly bewildered and ready to start it all over again. Singer/songwriter Chris Baratono and longtime bandmates Ben Southwell (guitar) and Josh Siwek (bass) are joined by drummer Dan Jaquint (Small Brown Bike, Fencemen, La Salle etc) to form the most precise and angular lineup yet of this progressive indie rock band, with longtime collaborator Isaac Vander Schuur at the studio console once again. “So Sobering” and “Little Bitch” have some of the biggest hooks in tandem with the most heart-wrenching lyrics yet from Chris’ pen, and the sound collage elements on “Brand New Spine” and “Mosquitos” offer a welcome new flavor to the Narc Out catalog. The release party for this EP unfortunately coincided with a drummer injury (but he’s well on the mend, don’t worry) so the band has actually yet to really support the record with show dates – definitely keep an eye on the socials for when they do get announced. In the meantime we recommend playing all 3 of the Narc Out EPs in a row, it’s a hell of a listen!
As always, we finished out the year with Bermuda Snowhawk and Jeremy one-upped as all again by releasing “Colorado Christmas” (another Wild Honey collab) in multiple formats and mixes. In addition to this Nitty Gritty Dirt Band chestnut, the whole holiday comp features an instant-classic bummer Plurals tune, further new material from A Rueful Noise and Cavalcade, the debut recording of the Grateful Dead-leaning Dead Honey Collective alter ego, whatever Cabin Fever is, and it all… well, maybe it doesn’t work, per se, but it feels natural. And thus begins the 20th year of GTG Records. Sure!
New songs from A Rueful Noise, The Plurals, Cavalcade, Jeremy Porter (alternate mix of “Colorado Christmas“) and the debut recording of The Wild Honey spinoff Dead Honey Collective – all this and more on the 18th annual Bermuda Snohawk compilation. Cheers!
Jeremy Porter’s rendition of “Colorado Christmas” (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) is out now! Tasty steel, mandolin, and harmony vocal backing c/o The Wild Honey Collective too! The song is streaming everywhere but, as always, get it on bandcamp first!
Jeremy has a quick solo run in OH/WV/KY to close out the year:
GTG RECORDS 