By Michael Todd

Images by Studio Blu Photography

 

Andy Howes is a bit late for breakfast.

The morning we’re to meet, the president and owner of Howes Oil Co. is managing a gas station makeover, the 31st of its kind. It’s another conversion to reflect his company’s Local brand, with the store’s zip code featured prominently on its signs.

Designer John Boylan, who just put his order in, sees Howes through the window of M.B. Haskett, finishing a phone call.

“He’s putting out a fire,” Boylan says with a knowing laugh. His work through advertising firm Fresh Produce graces all 31 Local c-stores, and is what introduced him to Howes a couple years ago.

It turns out to be a manageable fire. The hitch delays Howes only a few minutes, and he doesn’t appear flustered as he walks into his familiar haunt on this mid-October morning.

He says we’re sitting only a couple tables away from where he first met with Tim Jewell and Josh Rieck to talk about a record label. Jewell and Rieck’s band the Union Grove Pickers had released two albums under the name Different Folk Records, one of which was on vinyl and funded through Kickstarter. But at that time, Different Folk was mostly a name and an idea.

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Howes can point to where the proper label later developed this year: at that table, and then at that table, and later at that table, where he would meet with groups also including musician Thomas Hentges, music retailer Corey Ross, and Boylan.

Haskett’s, a locally owned restaurant in Sioux Falls, became somewhat of an early homebase for the six label owners, and a fitting one at that. With an initial focus on South Dakota and Minnesota artists, Different Folk expresses an appreciation for art made close to home. They also make special note to mention that their first three 7-inch records are being made in the U.S., at Gotta Groove Records in Ohio.

The nascent label shows off those fruits of its labor at its first release show on Saturday, November 14 at 7:30 p.m., at Icon Lounge in Sioux Falls. The Union Grove Pickers as well as Hentges’ band Burlap Wolf King will join Jami Lynn, Jack Klatt and Ryan Kickland at the show.

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All of the concert’s artists also appear on Different Folk’s first three releases: On one, the Union Grove Pickers’ “9 to 9” plays side A to Jami Lynn’s “The North Wind”; Burlap Wolf King’s “You Can’t Be a Byrd If You Can’t Fly” and Ryan Kickland’s “The Valley” comprise the second; and Jack Klatt occupies both sides of a third single with the songs “Roadrunner” and “Ragged and Dirty.”
Boylan has created a cohesive look for this batch, including what are called obi strips to wrap around the left side of the vinyl and their sleeves. It’s a packaging addition used primarily in Japan, and a sort of synecdoche for the record label’s artists: precisely picked, and possessing an interesting, but lesser-known backstory.

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(Howes, Ross, Boylan, Hentges, Rieck, and Jewell)

To read the full article, pick up the November issue of 605 Magazine, or click here

 

 

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