Retailer Hymie’s Records to also become a record label

Hymie's Vintage Records in Minneapolis. Photo by Jennifer Simonson/MPR.

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Venerable retailer Hymie’s Records is launching its very own in-house record label with vinyl releases by Ben Weaver and Brian Laidlaw & the Family Trade. It will celebrate taking the plunge with an Oct. 10 show at the Cedar Cultural Center featuring both artists.

The vintage vinyl lover’s refuge opened more than a quarter-century ago. Since its 2010 move to East Lake Street, it has made a name for itself as a haven for Twin Cities musicians. At the core of the label is the Minnesota roots music scene, co-owner Laura Hoenack (below, with husband and co-owner Dave Hoenack) said in a news release.

The label’s first release from poetic folk six-piece Brian Laidlaw & the Family Trade offers a harmonic and word-driven spin on Americana. Local singer-songwriter Ben Weaver will headline the Cedar show, launching his new LP I Would Rather be a Buffalo on the label before kicking off on a conservationist bicycle tour from the Twin Cities to New Orleans.

The Oct. 10 release show is being held in conjunction with Rain Taxi’s Twin Cities Book Festival, where the musicians will do some storytelling the next day—Weaver will be releasing an “epic poem” in addition to the new album.

You can listen to Ben Weaver’s 2010 session in the Current’s studios here.

Hailey Colwell is a journalism major at the University of Minnesota and a co-director of Theatre Corrobora.