Brown's Around: Green Party Time

Twenty years on, with the number of releases approaching three hundred, Greentrax has established itself as Scotland’s premier Celtic music label. Ask Ian for the highlights of the catalogue and he’ll happily confess to getting a buzz every time a new album is released, but he lists some of the label’s defining moments.

“The McCalmans coming to me right away, then staying,” he says. “That was tremendous, and getting the Aly Bain & Friends album from the TV series gave us some incredible profile; it just hoisted us straight out of being a wee unknown label.

“Jean Redpath joining us for the Burns albums was another highlight, as was getting Dick Gaughan; he’s the number one man on the folk scene and to get him on the label was just great.”

Even before Eric Bogle had made his first recording, Ian was a huge fan and had tried to persuade him to get some of his material down on tape. “But at that time,” he chuckles, “Eric said he didn’t have enough good songs! He went back to Australia and recorded his first album Now I’m Easy and I got the opportunity to license it.”

The album Gaelic Women was another highlight. “It took us three years to get it, just because of the geographical location of all the singers,” he says. “It was a very expensive album but fortunately the Scottish Arts Council did give us some assistance. It’s been a great album and I’m very proud of that one.”

Gordon Duncan

The roster of artists isn’t confined to Scots. “Licensing Natalie MacMaster‘s albums in the face of competition from the major labels in London was a real coup for Greentrax,” he says. “EMI and other companies were chasing, but we got her.”

On a sad note, the late Gordon Duncan was a great acquisition. “He was the most innovative piper in Scotland,” says Ian, “and to get him on the label was really something special. It’s so sad that he died last year. It shook me to the core, I must say, because I was on very friendly terms with him. I was very badly hit by that one.”

The tribute album to the late Hamish Henderson is another of Ian’s highlights, as is finally bringing Jim Reid to Greentrax. “I’ve been chasing Jim for years and years and eventually he joined us,” he says. Jim’s Greentrax album Yont the Tay was voted the traditional album of the year at the Scottish Folk Awards.

“Culburnie Records joining us was another big highlight, and getting the Scottish Tradition series was a real coup, because when the albums were originally released on the Tangent label it was hailed as the greatest series of traditional recordings ever. I know these albums don’t sell in large numbers but they really are important historically and it was wonderful to be a part of that.”

The obvious final question is to ask Ian what he reckons the next twenty years might hold. “One thing’s for sure,” he laughs, “I won’t be responsible for it. I’m now 72 and I don’t foresee another twenty years before me. I keep saying each year that we’re going to slow down a bit and pull back the output, but that never seems to happen. In fact we‘ve been busier than ever during the first five months of this year.”

And there’s more cause for celebration, for this year sees the Golden Wedding anniversary of Ian and June Green. One of their most prized gifts is a special recording by Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham of June and Ian Green’s Golden Years, written by Phil.

Finally, on the day before this interview took place, it was headlined in the Scottish press that the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama was to honour Billy Connolly and Annie Lennox. In the smaller print below was the announcement that Ian Green of Greentrax Recordings was to be presented with an Honorary Doctorate.

The man is delighted, as will be all who have been connected in any way with a label which has always preferred to put musical excellence at the top of its corporate strategy. Carry on Doctor!