Tributes to champion of folk music and record man Green
Tributes have been paid to a former police inspector who went on to become one of the most influential figures in Scottish music in modern times.
Ian Green, who has passed away at the age of 90, released nearly 500 albums with the label he set up more than 35 years ago after retiring from Lothian and Borders Police.
He would go on to work with singers like Barbara Dickson, Dick Gaughan, Eric Bogle, Jean Redpath and Donnie Munro, and the bands Shooglenifty, Salsa Celtica and Peatbog Faeries.
Green’s first foray into the music business was when he launched a folk night at the Edinburgh Police Club in the 1960s. He helped launch both the Edinburgh Folk Club and Edinburgh Folk Festival in the 1970s, as well as an annual Fringe venue, which still runs under the banner of the Acoustic Music Centre.
Bogle recalled first meeting Green when he played at his “Fuzzfolk” night at the police club. He said: “It was at this club Ian deepened and extended his love and knowledge of folk music, especially Scottish traditional music. This led to him deciding, upon receiving a generous severance payment after 30 years in the police, to invest this money in starting a record label to promote and sell folk music.
“I and many others told him he was ‘aff his heid’, but luckily he totally ignored us and so Greentrax was born. It then became the pre-eminent and most treasured record label in Scotland, and perhaps the world, as far as Scottish folk music was concerned.”
Singer and musician David Francis, director of the Scottish Traditional Music Forum network, said: “Ian’s contribution to folk music in Scotland is almost incalculable.
“For many musicians, a contract with Greentrax was the first rung on the ladder to making a career in the music business. But Ian was always mindful of the fact that our community is not just made up of professionals, with space being made for semi-pro musicians, Scottish dance bands, pipe bands, and the whole gamut of activity and musical perspectives.
“Ian was to be found behind his desk in his office at Cockenzie almost to the end, still planning releases, still grappling with the complexities of downloads and streaming at an age when you would have forgiven him for shutting up shop.”
Singer and musician Steve Byrne called Green “a doughty champion for our traditions”.