Law & Order Composer Mike Post Goes Off-Script With His First Full Album

Mike Post has spent decades writing music to serve story.

Scenes. Characters. Picture lock. Timing. Emotion under constraint. 

In this episode of Beyond the Notes with Vonn Vanier, the legendary Law & Order composer talks about what happened when, during COVID, that structure suddenly fell away — and an entirely different idea took shape. 

While driving late at night and listening to bluegrass, Mike had a question: What if an orchestra and a bluegrass rhythm section could truly coexist? What followed was not a side project, and not a break from television, but a serious compositional challenge. Writing music that didn’t need to follow a script. Music that could grow organically, piece by piece, through collaboration, time, and conversation between classical orchestra players and world-class bluegrass musicians. 

Mike walks through how the album evolved from small fragments into two large-scale works — Message from the Mountains and Echoes of the Delta — blending bluegrass, blues, orchestral writing, and American musical tradition. He reflects on influences ranging from Copland and Randy Newman to bluegrass legends, the role of improvisation and orchestration, and what changes when music is no longer solving a narrative problem. 

This conversation is about craft, collaboration, discipline, and what it means to keep growing — even while continuing to write every note of Law & Order decades into its run. 

If you haven’t watched Part 1, where Mike breaks down his television career, his process, and how writing for story shaped his musical language, start there first: 

▶ Watch Part 1 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pkOdg5fxPE 

Then come back to this episode. 

About Beyond the Notes 

Beyond the Notes is a long-form conversation series hosted by composer Vonn Vanier, exploring how music, identity, craft, and lived experience intersect beyond surface-level credits.