WE GROW MUSIC
LIKE trees grow rings
Tree Ring Records started in a Portland garage in 2003 with a second-hand lathe, a borrowed microphone and a belief: records should smell like wood and sound like weather. Today we are a label, pressing plant partner, analog studio and record shop — but still family-run.
Every Tree Ring release is cut from live takes, real rooms and no pitch correction. We record to 2-inch tape, master for vinyl first, and plant a Douglas fir for every 100 records pressed — 18,400 trees so far.
Heavyweight & honest
180g virgin vinyl, letterpress sleeves, hand-numbered. Mastered by JJ Golden, pressed at 33⅓ with love.
More than a label
Record shop, workshops for kids, free Friday sessions, tape library open to all Portland musicians.
2003 — First ring
Two friends press 300 copies of “Stump Songs” in a garage. Sold out in 11 days at Saturday Market.
2011 — Studio roots
We build Studio A in an old lumber warehouse: pine treatment, Neve 8068, Studer A80 tape machine.
2018 — 100th release
Cedar & Smoke “Rings” goes to #4 on college radio, we plant our 10,000th tree on Mt. Hood.
2026 — Still analog
142 releases, zero digital-only albums. We still cut lacquers in-house and host Tree Ring Fest.