A Tribute to Ian Green (1934-2024)
Founder of Scotland's Greentrax Records
Last week, on March 10, Ian Green, the founder and guiding spirit of Greentrax Records, passed away at the age of 90. Today, I’d like to honor him with a profile drawn from two of my articles written for Scottish Life magazine over the years. I especially enjoyed working with Ian when my small company distributed the recordings of Scotland and Atlantic Canada to stores throughout the U.S., from 1991-2002, starting at a time when they were not easy to find. Ian was sincerely dedicated to quality in Scottish traditional music, and a refreshingly honest businessman. I got to hang out with him only a few times, in Scotland and in Cape Breton, and like so many, am saddened by the news of his passing. I hope that the profile below gives some sense of his accomplishments.
Back in the 1940s in Forres, Scotland, a town between Inverness and Aberdeen, a boy named Ian Green used to watch his dad and his uncle march up and down in front of the house, playing the pipes together for hours. Musicians would drop in at the house to play fiddle, spoons, and other musical implements, and ceilidhs in the village hall would provide yet more music.
Though he never really took to an instrument himself, Ian developed a passion for traditional music that “has changed the face of Scottish music, permanently and hugely for the better,” as Brian McNeill put it when he was head of traditional music at Scotland's Royal Conservatoire.
Brian was speaking of Greentrax Recordings. The brainchild of Ian Green, this record label has produced over 450 recordings that spotlight the vitality of Scotland's music and many of her finest musicians.
Green did not set out to start a record label. After serving in the army in Korea, he joined the Edinburgh Police, where he remained on the job for a full 30 years. But during that time, he became hooked by Scottish music, first by seeing the Corries and other folk artists on TV, and then by frequenting the thriving folk clubs of Edinburgh. In the 1960s, he founded the Edinburgh Police Folk Club, which became one of the best folk clubs in Scotland, and ten years later co-founded the Edinburgh Folk Club.
There were times during the 1960s and 70s when "folkies" and police didn’t always see eye to eye, but sharing music at the Edinburgh Police Folk Club (fondly known as "Fuzzfolk") certainly promoted a greater understanding. Ian learned years later that some senior officers actually eyed this “folkie” policeman as a possible “left-wing threat” and even held up his promotion for a while. He retired in 1985 as a Police Inspector (equivalent in the U.S. to a lieutenant).
One year after retirement, he launched Greentrax Recordings. By the mid-1980s, the Scottish folk clubs had spawned many excellent traditional singers and instrumentalists, yet recordings were maddeningly sparse, outside of a few small labels with local or in-house musicians. Green felt that the British music industry was largely neglecting the traditional music of Scotland in favor of stereotypical pipers, and singers spun off from the music hall era of Harry Lauder. This was about to change dramatically.
Ian Green sank his police pension into recording the contemporary musical talent of Scotland, and to the surprise of many, his record company filled a need and took off. The initial impetus was a new book of tunes by fiddler Ian Hardie, which Green thought would make a fine recording. Then the great folk duo, the McCalmans, offered to record an album, the first of ten they made for Greentrax.
An exciting panorama of music followed. Rod Paterson and Jean Redpath were followed by many other great singers, including Gaelic songs from Cathy-Ann MacPhee, Billy Ross, Mairi MacInnes (including an album of Gaelic children's songs), and waulking songs from the women's group, Bannal. A sampling of some of Scotland's best Gaelic singers can be heard on Gaelic Women, a recording that capped three years of work, and was followed up by a unique and moving concert at the Celic Connections Festival.
Pipe bands on the Greentrax label range from the Black Watch regimental band to MacUmba, which blends traditional pipe band music with Latin percussion. Top solo pipers can be heard on the World Masters of Piping album, and a set of four CDs preserves historic oral instruction in classical bagpipe piobaireachd. Contemporary piping albums include high quality, accessible CDs from, among others, Iain MacInnes, Hamish Moore, Dougie Pincock, and Gordon Duncan, who debuted on Greentrax and was featured on three solo albums on the label, plus one drawn from recitals and competitions.
The broad range of Scottish folk singers/songwriters on Greentrax includes two of the most influential and poignant, Dick Gaughan and Eric Bogle. Gaughan can be heard on seven solo albums, and Bogle’s releases include a 5-CD boxed set..
The historic posthumous CD by singer and guitarist Tony Cuffe, Sae Will We Yet, presented some of Tony's favorite Scottish and Irish love songs, plus other previously unreleased material.
Scots Women, a double CD with glorious multi-voice and solo singing, is a Scots complement to the Gaelic Women album. Jacobite songs were highlighted in a CD called The King Has Landed, featuring a broad cross-section of singers from Ewan MacColl and the Corries to Rod Paterson and Jim Malcolm.
Sheena Wellington, whose bold Scots voice enriched the opening of the Scottish Parliament, released Hamely Fare on Greentrax. Her singing of Burns's "A Man's A Man For A' That" at the Parliament in 1999 provided one measure of the growing appreciation for Scottish traditional music. A few decades previous to that, prevailing tastes might have selected a classically trained tenor.
The broad selection of Scottish music on Greentrax Recordings extends also to ceilidh bands, guitarists such as Tony McManus, harpers such as Wendy Stewart, and fiddlers such as the powerful Willie Hunter, the snazzy Gordon Gunn, or the playful virtuosity of Jennifer Wrigley. Greentrax has also brought to Scotland recordings of Cape Breton artists, including fiddler Natalie MacMaster and the band Slainte Mhath.
Some of the most exciting and popular albums on the label come from Celtic touring bands, including the venerable Whistlebinkies, Jock Tamson's Bairns and Ossian, as well as debuts by Deaf Shepherd, Malinky, Burach, and the cutting edge Shooglenifty.
Ian once said of his label, “We have had a commitment to offer debut albums of new talent who deserve to be heard by a wider audience.” Guitarist Tony McManus underlined that by pointing out how Greentrax “has provided me and many other musicians with a platform to develop our talents.”
Green’s broad musical tastes allowed Greentrax to stray from traditionally based music, though for his label, he said, “it all has to have some Scottish connection.” A new sublabel called G2 was set up especially for these experimental forays, which include the hot Latin sound of Salsa Celtica, and the dance beat of Keltik Elektrik.
Not all Greentrax albums are contemporary. Ian Green said he practically fell off his chair with pride when Edinburgh University's School of Scottish Studies asked him to make available their Scottish Tradition series. These historic albums draw on some 8000 hours of field recordings to document many aspects of Scottish culture. Nearly 30 CDs and accompanying booklets are available in this series, exploring Gaelic songs, traditional fiddling styles, pibroch, bothy ballads, storytelling, Gaelic psalms and other genres.
The universal respect musicians have for Ian Green and his record label is remarkable. Singer Ed Miller expresses the views of many when he touts Greentrax's “taste, honesty, decency and great selection of Scottish music.” Even Green himself remarks, “I have always been dead straight with people, and in business, especially, this can be seen sometimes as unusual and refreshing.”
Talent and tradition mean little in themselves, unless the talent is developed and the tradition explored. Ian Green's passion for Scotland's rich musical heritage has helped make Scottish talent and tradition shine by providing practical support and exposure. Radio stations, musicians and listeners around the world are now able to appreciate the vitality of Scottish music in a way never before possible.
In July 2005, Ian was inducted into the Scottish music Hall of Fame when he was presented the Hamish Henderson Services to Traditional Music Award.
The following year, Greentrax released a triple CD to commemorate its 20th anniversary. This set of CDs sampled nearly 60 Greentrax albums, representing each decade with a CD of traditional music releases, and a third disc spotlighting the “cutting edge,” innovative and experimental takes on Scottish music.
There have also been releases celebrating the 25th and 30th anniversaries, but let's take a look at the 20th for a moment, to be specific about one release that encapsulates the range of performers on Greentrax. Every track is a quality performance, and very listenable. Such a mix of musicians could have been thrown together in an arbitrary smattering of disparate sounds, but these CDs flow well from track to track, without dwelling for long on any one style — a tribute to Ian Green and his knowledge of the music.
Green’s view was that Greentrax has “tried to cover every aspect of Scottish traditional music and the contemporary approach to this music, and I think the result is a label which has greater breadth and depth than any other Scottish label.”
For those familiar with Scottish music, the three CDs comprising the Greentrax 20th anniversary album provide a rewarding tour-de-force through the sounds and sentiments of Scotland’s best musicians, plus some artists not so well known. Listeners not conversant with a broad range of Scottish traditional music can hardly help but feel energized by such a display of national talent.
Most of the two traditional CDs feature vocal selections, backed by excellent musicians. These include the clear Gaelic voices of Catherine-Anne MacPhee and Mairi MacInnes, ballad singer Heather Heywood, Isla St. Clair, Jean Redpath, and the rough-hewn Jeannie Robertson. We are stirred by the sonorous Rod Paterson singing Burns, the modern folk sound of the late Davy Steele, and the strong voices of Dick Gaughan, Jim Reid, Archie Fisher, Eric Bogle, and Ed Miller. For an antidote to the dour, there’s the Glaswegian humor of Adam McNaughtan. Perhaps the most exciting song is the final track of the album, the live recording of Sheena Wellington singing Burns’s “A Man’s A Man” at the opening of the Scottish Parliament.
A track from the ever-popular folksingers, The McCalmans, was taken from their first Greentrax album, which gave the fledgling record label a boost in its first year of existence.
Piping selections offered on the 20th anniversary CDs include performances by two accomplished musicians who tragically passed away the year before: Gordon Duncan on Highland pipes, and multi-instrumentalist Martyn Bennett playing Scottish smallpipes. Australian Mark Saul, formerly with the world champion Victoria Police Pipe Band, plays a wild piping composition of his own. Two of Scotland’s top Grade 1 pipe bands, Scottish Power and the Vale of Atholl, offer up fine piping with creative arrangements. One track on the cutting edge CD presents the unique pipe band MacUmba, with South American drums and rhythms backing up the Highland pipers.
Fiddle enthusiasts will enjoy listening to Aly Bain’s duo with accordionist Phil Cunningham, Alasdair Fraser with cellist Natalie Haas, Shetlander Chris Stout, Orcadian Jennifer Wrigley, the high energy of the band Fiddlers' Bid, Gordon Gunn’s eclectic virtuosity, and the beautiful tone and soulfulness of the late Willie Hunter. A track from the label’s very first release features original fiddle tunes by Ian Hardie.
Varied hues of musical moods radiate from the many accomplished folk bands included on these CDs, such as Deaf Shepherd, Malinky, Easy Club, Ceolbeg, the venerable Whistlebinkies, the atmospheric Shooglenifty and Peatbog Faeries, the young band Slainte Mhath of Cape Breton, and the Australian-Scottish Colcannon. One of Scotland’s most experienced folk bands, Jock Tamson’s Bairns, and one of the youngest at the time, GiveWay, can also be heard.
High energy ceilidh dance music is present and accounted for, led by accordionist Fergie MacDonald on one track, and Freeland Barbour of the Occasionals on another. The wild accordionist Sandy Brechin does his thing as well, mixing a dance beat with lively contemporary tunes.
Scottish Latin from Salsa Celtica, Scottish lute, Scottish and Breton guitar music from Tony McManus and Alain Genty, and party music from Keltik Elektrik add intriguing glimpses of the vital music scene in Scotland that is represented on the Greentrax anniversary celebration CDs.
So what’s missing from this seemingly comprehensive roster of musicians? Ian Green admitted he knew nothing of pop or rock music, and as a result did not record those genres. He also generally steered clear of straight classical and jazz, “although these influences have entered the Scottish traditional stream,” he said, “and no bad thing, too!”
When Greentrax began, there was a feeling that much of Scotland’s real traditional musicians were neglected by the British music industry, with a few exceptions such as Temple Records. Scotland’s musical image was often limited to the “heather and haggis” music derived from the music hall scene, and from films such as Brigadoon. In Green’s opinion, this stereotyping of Scottish music “caused untold damage to Scotland’s real traditional music, which has taken years to recover.”
Through his record label, Ian Green played a vital role in making that recovery possible. When Donnie Munro, former lead singer with the Gaelic superstar band, Runrig, signed on to Greentrax for an album, he said “I am delighted to be signing to one of Scotland’s finest record companies, and one which has played such a major role in developing and sustaining the industry here in Scotland.”
Ian Green will certainly be missed, but he left a glowing legacy for Scotland to enjoy, and an inspiration to musicians and audiences everywhere.
The above article is mostly taken from two chapters of my book, MusicScapes of Scotland: Vignettes from Prehistory to Pandemic. This link provides info on how to find the book online, in a store, or as an ebook.
Thank you for this wonderful, informative tribute to Ian Green and description of the bounty of Scottish music available on Greentrax, Ed. Could you also let us know how to see Greentrax's inventory and order CD's here in the States? Thank you! Sue Parsons, Boston