Tag Archives: Folk

The Wild Honey Collective – Solidago, OUT NOW

Apple Music / YouTube / Spotify / TIDAL

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”)

Dead Honey Collective – Rose Colored Glasses, OUT NOW

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…

“Through Munising” Single Out Now

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

Mastered by John Duffy 

StoopFest 2025

StoopFest is back in Lansing this weekend! May 9&10!

Wild Honey “Chicory” coming 9/1/2023

Coming Friday September 1st: “Chicory” – a 7 track mini-album of Wild Honey arrangements of songs by Calliope, Fred Eaglesmith, Michael Dause/Shantyland, Grateful Dead, plus some new original instrumental pieces. Culled from the sessions of our forthcoming “Volume 3” album, “Chicory” is springing up like a late summer wildflower and will be streaming everywhere 9/1/2023. Today you can check out “Marquette Bay,” written by Michael Dause and based on an arrangement we saw him play with Ben Traverse earlier this year – free download available at GTG Records Bandcamp!

The Wild Honey Collective: LowellArts Artist Of The Month

WHC-LowellArts

LowellArts is featuring The Wild Honey Collective as its January 2022 Artist of the Month! Check out the link for an in-depth article about the band, how it came together, the 2020 album/tour, and what’s coming up next. Thanks so much to LowellArts for featuring this GTG band and for providing opportunities for Michigan artists to share their work!

The Wild Honey Collective Featuring Jeremy Porter East Coast Tour Fall 2021

This October a unique version of The Wild Honey Collective led by Tommy and Danielle will hit the road, featuring Jeremy Porter (who will also play solo in addition to accompanying the Wild Honey set on lap steel, mandolin, and guitar) and Nicholas Richard. This tour is hitting a lot of new spots for this GTG crew, so while the tour is officially designated to promote The Wild Honey Collective Volume 1 and Jeremy Porter and The Tucos’ Candy Coated Cannonball, given the unique band lineup and that this is the first proper extended GTG artist tour in 2 years(!) it’s safe to also expect some Plurals tunes, a variety of covers, and some collaborations with other friends at certain shows. Dates are all listed above and there’s a full event thing going here. NY, VT, ME, PA, NJ, OH…. we’ll see you out there!

July 2021 Shows!

On Friday July 9 Matt Carlson (the ol’ Harborcoat and Stick Around man himself) and Johnny Aimcrier will be playing at Brickhaven in Grand Ledge, MI. Tommy and Danielle from Wild Honey Collective will be joining them for a few songs and to do a couple of ours too. 


Saturday July 10 will see Cavalcade play the first show at Pyramid Scheme in Grand Rapids since early 2020. Way to go, boys! Somehow, GTG-affiliated acts are weirdly ushering in the return of live music to the, er, weirdos of the Midwest. Case in point….

Saturday July 10 is also the let’s-not-overstate-it-too-much return of shows to the Avenue Cafe in Lansing, featuring The Hunky Newcomers, Foxgrave, and Jeremy Porter. Geez! That feels good to say. No cover, 21+, 9 PM, just… come and watch! Wow! There’s shows every Saturday in July at the Avenue, and they’ve all got a GTG flavor to them: Saturday July 17 RK Andrews from No Skull opens up for our friends Bloody Butterflies and Bubak, Saturday July 24 Nicholas Weltschmerz opens up for the debut show of the latest Josh David fronted band Frowntown, and on July 31 the Wild Honey Duo will open up for a night of music featuring Michigan mainstay Jen Sygit. Something for everyone, you’re welcome!

The Wild Honey Collective – Earful In The Parlour 4/24

The Wild Honey Collective will be performing a live set as part of Earful in the Parlour on April 24thTickets are available at the link – this virtual festival was started last year to benefit Earful of Fiddle, a traditional music and dance camp that does a tremendous amount of community outreach and education for music in the state of Michigan and beyond. This is part of the greater unofficial network of Wheatland Music Organization community activities and we’re very happy to help keep these passionate music projects afloat. Wild Honey plays at 11 PM!

Livestream Tonight w/ The Wild Honey Collective

Friday February 5 – tonight! – 9 PM EST, The Wild Honey Collective streams a set at the Best Friends Club facebook group with special guest Patty PerShayla! Join the group, join the party, and party on!