Green Linnet Records | |
---|---|
Parent company | Compass Records |
Founded | 1973 |
Founder | Lisa Null Patrick Sky |
Distributor(s) | Ryko Distribution |
Genre | Celtic |
Country of origin | U.S. |
Location | Nashville, Tennessee |
Green Linnet Records was an American independent record label that specialized in Celtic music. Founded by Lisa Null and Patrick Sky as Innisfree Records in 1973, the label was initially based in Null's house in New Canaan, Connecticut. In 1975 the label became Innisfree/Green Linnet and Wendy Newton joined Null and Sky as operating officer. In 1976 Newton took over control of the now Green Linnet label and moved it to Danbury, Connecticut in 1985. Newton became sole owner in 1978. [1] Newton's love of Irish music had been sparked during a visit to Ireland where she heard traditional music for the first time in a small pub in County Clare.
Green Linnet signed Altan, Capercaillie, The Tannahill Weavers and many other significant bands and musicians. From its founding until its sale in 2006 Green Linnet was one of the most influential Celtic music labels, releasing hundreds of albums by a wide range of Irish, Scottish, Breton, Galician and Irish-American musicians. In 1992 a subsidiary called Xenophile Records was added to feature world music from Madagascar, Nigeria, Cuba and other countries. In 1997 Green Linnet launched Celtophile Records to offer budget-priced compilations. There was also a Green Linnet/Redbird series that featured singer-songwriters. [1]
In 2002 Green Linnet was sued for unpaid royalties by bands Cherish the Ladies and Altan and artists Mick Moloney, Joanie Madden and Eileen Ivers. [2] Most artists were paid and most claims were settled in 2006. But there remain a number of outstanding claims that have yet to be resolved, clouding the legacy left behind by Green Linnet and its then-owner Wendy Newton. Bands have been known to leave the label because of poor management from the label, including Wolfstone and Lúnasa.
In May 2006 Newton sold the label to the Digital Music Group, an aggregator of downloadable music. DMG in turn sold the rights to manufacture and distribute Green Linnet and Xenophile physical compact discs to Compass Records. Both the Green Linnet and Xenophile catalogs remain available through Compass. [3]
A linnet is a red-breasted song bird known for its trills and twitters. However, in the Irish rebel song tradition, the name "Green Linnet" has a specific meaning. It was the code name for Napoleon Bonaparte who they hoped would break the chains of British rule. Indeed in the early 19th century the Society of United Irishmen (the Irish independence organization led by Theobald Wolfe Tone and Robert Emmet), allied themselves with France against Britain, but as history would prove, to no effect. The songs, however, were passed down to latter generations.
Michael McGoldrick is a folk musician who plays Irish flute, uilleann pipes, low whistle and bodhran. He also plays other instruments such as acoustic guitar, cittern, and mandolin.
Xenophile Records is a Nashville, Tennessee based sublabel of Green Linnet Records that specializes in world music from Madagascar, Nigeria, Haiti, Chile, Argentina, Finland and other countries. The label was started in 1992 in Danbury, Connecticut by Wendy Newton as a subsidiary of Green Linnet. In 2006, Newton sold Green Linnet and Xenophile to Digital Music Group, an aggregator of downloadable music. DMG sold the rights to manufacture and distribute Green Linnet and Xenophile physical compact discs to Compass Records.
Celtophile Records was a Danbury, Connecticut-based sublabel of Green Linnet Records that specialized in budget compilations of Celtic music. The label was started in 1997 in Danbury, Connecticut by Green Linnet owner Wendy Newton. It operated until 2006, when Newton sold Green Linnet to Digital Music Group, an aggregator of downloadable music. DMG in turn sold the rights to manufacture and distribute Green Linnet to Compass Records, which still markets the Green Linnet catalog.
Cherish the Ladies is an American female super group that plays Celtic music. The band began as a concert series in New York in January 1985. It was the brainchild of Mick Moloney who wanted to showcase the brightest female musicians in America in what had been a male-dominated scene. The group took its name from a traditional Irish jig called "Cherish the Ladies", and the series opened to sold-out concerts. Their leader Joanie Madden plays flute and tin whistle. The other members of the group play a wide variety of instruments. Their albums contain both tunes and songs.
Eileen Ivers is an American fiddler.
Wolfstone are a Scottish musical group founded in 1989, who play Celtic rock. Their repertoire consists of both original songs and traditional folk pieces. They have released seven studio albums, the latest, Terra Firma, in 2007. The band record on their own label, Once Bitten Records. The group are named after the "Wolfstone", a Pictish stone originally sited at Ardross, Easter Ross, close to where the band initially recorded.
Compass Records is an independent record label founded in 1995 by musicians Garry West and Alison Brown that specializes in folk, bluegrass, Celtic, jazz, and acoustic music.
Cillian Vallely is an Irish musician, born in Armagh, Northern Ireland. He plays traditional Irish music on the uilleann pipes and low whistle, and studied at the Armagh Pipers Club with his mother and father, Brian and Eithne, and then with the late Armagh piper Mark Donnelly. His brothers, Niall and Caoimhín, also play traditional music.
The Green Fields of America is an ensemble that performs and promotes Irish traditional music in the United States. It was formed in 1977 in Philadelphia, led by musician and folklorist Mick Moloney. They perform Irish and Irish-American culture with American musicians and dancers. They are named after the traditional ballad The Green Fields of America.
Otherworld is an album by Lúnasa that was released 1999 on Green Linnet Records. It is the band's second major release. Although the album displays the band’s traditional Celtic sound, it features techniques and styles unusual to the genre, such as occasional double-tracking recording and occasional instances of instruments that differ from Celtic music, such as cello, electric bass and flügelhorn, leading Allmusic to say the album "yields a sound that is unique to the group and yet clearly in touch with tradition". The album has been described as innovative, with The Georgia Straight citing several tracks' usage of multiple woodwinds as an example.
Redwood is an album by Lúnasa that was released in 2003 on Green Linnet Records. It was their fourth major release, and their last album on Green Linnet Records. The band conceived the album in October 2001 whilst staying in a Californian lodge; the band aimed to record an album that would capture the band's live feel whilst at the same time retaining the sonic quality that the band feature on their albums. The band took a ten-day break from their February 2002 American tour to record the album at Prairie Sun Recording Studios in California. It is characterised by a more relaxed sound than previous albums, and less guest musicians.
Joe Derrane was an Irish-American button accordion player, known for re-popularizing the D/C# system diatonic button accordion.
Dáithí Sproule is a guitarist and singer of traditional Irish music. He is the grandson of Frank Carney and uncle of singer Claire Sproule.
Manus Lunny is an Irish producer and multi-instrumentalist from County Donegal, Ireland, best known as a member of Celtic supergroup Capercaillie. He is the brother of multi-instrumentalist and producer Dónal Lunny.
Joanie Madden is an Irish-American flute and whistle player of Irish traditional music. She is best known as leader of the all-female group Cherish the Ladies, but has also recorded and performed with numerous other musicians, and as a solo artist. She also teaches master classes and workshops.
Robbie O'Connell is an Irish singer songwriter who performs solo, as well as with The Green Fields of America. He also appears with Dónal Clancy (cousin), Dan Milner, and fiddler Rose Clancy. O'Connell has also toured and recorded with The Clancy Brothers, being their nephew. For over 20 years, he has conducted small cultural tours to Ireland with Celtica Music & Tours and, for more than ten years, WGBH Learning Tours. Married with four grown children, he now spends his time between Bristol, Rhode Island and Waterford.
Oisín Mac Diarmada is an Irish fiddler.
Jimmy Keane is a London-born English musician of Irish origin and a specialist piano accordion player. In addition to his solo career, in the 1980s he was part of the folk trio Moloney, O'Connell & Keane, then in ensemble Green Fields of America. In the 1990s, he was in Aengus and formed the group bohola with Pat Broaders and Seán Cleland. He has recorded and produced a number of albums.
Moloney, O'Connell & Keane is an early 1980s folk trio of traditional Irish music made up of guitarist and singer-songwriter Robbie O'Connell, banjoist and singer Mick Moloney and piano accordion virtuoso Jimmy Keane. The trio released two critically acclaimed albums: There Were Roses in 1985 and the album Kilkelly in 1987 including O'Connell's signature song "Killkelly".