Tributes paid to Scottish folk music champion Ian Green after he passes away aged 90

Former police inspector Ian Green ran record label for more than 35 years

Tributes are being 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.

Ian Green founded the record label Greentrax in Edinburgh in 1986. Picture: Allan MacDonald

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 Edinburgh Folk Club and the Edinburgh Folk Festival in the 1970s, as well 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 that 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.”

Ian Green set up the Greentrax record label in 1986. Picture: Allan MacDonald

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.

“Greentrax issued almost 500 titles, a testament to his faith in the talent and creativity of Scottish folk music. The label is an outlet that enabled that talent and creativity to flourish in a way that it might never have done otherwise.

“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.”

Greentrax record label founder Ian Green was presented with a special award by Simon Thoumire, founder of the Scottish music industry organisation Hands Up For Trad, in 2016 to coincide with the company's 35th anniversary. Picture: Allan MacDonald

Long-time friend John Barrow, a music promoter who first met Green in the 1960s, is the chair of Edinburgh Folk Club. He said: “The folk scene has lost a most highly valued friend who took integrity to a new level.”

Composer, musician and producer Jim Sutherland said: “Ian was a towering figure on the Scottish folk scene. His legacy goes way beyond the output of his label.”

Singer and musician Steve Byrne, who made albums on Green's label with his band Malinky for more than 20 years, said: “Ian Green was a doughty champion for our traditions and almost single-handedly created a document and archive of a huge swathe of the Scottish folk music scene from the 1980s to the present day.”