Field Notes / Still Lifes

* 10th Anniversary Vinyl Edition *

Dobro, lap steel guitar, pedal steel guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and piano by Michael Grigoni.

Field Notes was recorded and mixed at home by Michael Grigoni in Bellingham, Washington and Durham, North Carolina from 2014 to 2015.

Still Lifes was recorded and mixed at home by Michael Grigoni in Seattle, Washington from 2004 to 2005, Bellingham, Washington in 2014, and Durham, North Carolina from 2016 to 2017.

“Rivers” is a collaboration between Michael Grigoni, who recorded the original material in 2015, and Scott Orr, who completed the track in 2026.

Mastered by Gus Elg at Sky Onion Mastering.

Layout and design by Scott Orr.

Cover artwork by Michael Kliën.

About the album:

After many years of playing dobro and lap steel guitar, I found myself drawn to the world of home recording. I cut my teeth on Pro Tools 6.0 and a couple of condenser microphones, never entirely sure of what I was doing. But after years of sitting with these instruments and a lifetime of listening to music, I wanted to make something that would last beyond live performance—a document that others could listen to and have a relationship with. I wanted to leave something behind. Field Notes and Still Lifes reflect my early attempts to do so.

The music that became Field Notes was originally composed for two documentary films, “The Bladesmiths” and “Two Rivers,” by the Montana-based production company, High Plains Films. Doug Hawes-Davis of High Plains Films graciously allowed me to release this music as Field Notes in 2016 after Scott Orr invited me to do so on his label Other Songs.

After Field Notes, I wasn’t quite ready to construct something from the ground up. I wondered what material might be lying dormant on my hard drive, and whether any of it deserved to see the light of day. Still Lifes is the turning of light on that material—stuff I had recorded after first buying home recording gear in the early 2000s. A decade later I assembled these fragments and half-finished experiments into an EP, which Scott graciously released on Other Songs in 2017.

To celebrate the ten-year anniversary of these records, Inner Ocean Records is releasing them on vinyl, with a new track, “Rivers.” Originally intended for Field Notes, “Rivers” didn’t make the final cut in 2016. So I sent the stems to Scott in 2026, who finished the track a decade later, bringing these releases full circle. Thanks, Scott, for believing in this music so many years ago.