Record Store Day 2015: Daddy Kool goes from seller to producer

On a day earmarked for celebrating record stores worldwide, Daddy Kool Records is taking the concept of DIY to a whole new level.

The St. Petersburg store has partnered with bluesy Indiana roustabouts the Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band to release an official 7-inch single exclusively for Record Store Day 2015. Five hundred copies will be distributed nationwide, including 15 — all autographed — at Daddy Kool.

How did the folks at Daddy Kool go from record vendors to record producers?

The store's owners had previously pressed 7-inches by three local acts — the Mojo Gurus, Jensen Serf Company and Have Gun, Will Travel — but most were co-funded by each artist, yielding only a slight profit for Daddy Kool.

"The idea just basically came out of helping out local bands," said Daddy Kool co-owner Tony Rifugiato.

The Mojo Gurus 7-inch, however, did so well that Daddy Kool and the band's manager, Brett Steele, started looking for other opportunities to create music. Steele's Rainmaker Management also reps Rev. Peyton.

The 7-inch includes Josh "the Reverend" Peyton's solo take on two blues standards: Willie Dixon's You Can't Judge a Book By Looking at the Cover, made famous by Bo Diddley; and Charley Patton's Some These Days I'll Be Gone. Both were recorded at Jack White's Third Man Records in Nashville, in the same Voice-o-Graph recording booth used to record Neil Young's 2014 LP A Letter Home.

While it may not be the highest-profile release hitting shelves this Record Store Day, its limited quantity — and Rev. Peyton's devoted fan base — made it an attractive order for stores stocking inventory. Rifugiato said record stores snapped up all 500 copies within 24 hours, Rifugiato said.

Like most Record Store Day exclusives, once they're gone, they're gone. But Daddy Kool isn't out of the record production business just yet, already talking with Rainmaker about another exclusive release for Record Store Day's Black Friday edition in November.

"It's an enjoyable project," said Rifugiato, also a prominent local concert promoter. "I want to start to approach some of the bands that we promote and say, "This is what we do. Are you guys interested?'"