Ian Powrie

Ian Powrie is one of Scottish country dance music’s best-loved figures, with a band sound and fiddle style that were instantly recognisable as his own.

Born at Bridge of Cally, in Perthshire on May 26, 1923, Ian began playing violin at the age of five. His father, Will, played melodeon and was well known on the Scottish country dance scene as The Angus Ploughman, but Ian’s teachers forbade him to play Scottish music in favour of the classics.

Classical studies gave Ian command of his instrument and resulted in him making his first broadcast, playing solo violin on BBC Radio’s Children’s Hour at the tender age of twelve. The pull of traditional music, which he heard at spontaneous gatherings in houses and in the nearby fields on summer evenings, proved too much, though, and before long he was playing with his father’s band.

After war service with the RAF, where he became a pilot and completed his training on the latest twin-engine planes in Canada, Ian returned to his father’s farm at Bankhead, working in the fields by day and playing at dances with his father’s band at weekends.

Presently, Ian took over the band, with his brother Bill on button box and sister Mary on piano, and made his first broadcast as a bandleader in April 1949.

The Ian Powrie Band, with Jimmy Blue replacing Bill and accordionist Mickey Ainsworth helping to create its signature sound, became a popular attraction, travelling all over Scotland and racking up thousands of miles in a car Ian described as ‘a monstrosity’ before acquiring more sophisticated transport.
After building a huge following, the band got its first big break when Robert Wilson, whose Personal Appearance programme regularly featured Ian’s band, recommended Ian to his recording manager, George Martin, later to become synonymous with The Beatles.

The first recording of Ian’s that the future fifth Beatle oversaw, Bothy Ballads for the Gay Gordons, became a best seller and when the band turned professional in 1960 it became one of the mainstays on BBC Television’s iconic White Heather Club, appearing on eighty-six of its one hundred-show run. Ian also became musical director for entertainer Andy Stewart, branching out into pop music and touring Canada, New Zealand and Australia, where, in 1966, Ian started a business and decided to settle down with his family.

Before emigrating, Ian enjoyed one of the highlights of his career, playing solo fiddle at the opening of Pitlochry Festival Theatre on a bill including the legendary singer Jeannie Robertson. Once in Australia any thoughts of retiring from music disappeared and Ian became much in demand, both as a fiddler and as a judge of fiddle competitions in America and Canada.

In 1986 Ian returned to Scotland and continued to delight his many admirers with his fiddle playing until, in 1999, at the age of seventy-six he decided finally to retire, still a master of his beloved Scottish slow airs.