The Dollymopps are Virgil & Dorana Philpott and Justin Smith. They sing songs in harmony from the folk tradition of Southern England - and, in particular, songs collected from their native Isle of Wight.  They have been singing together since 2005, during which time they have drawn favourable comment from the likes of Shirley Collins, Keith Kendrick and Heather Wood (of the Young Tradition).

They started out as Copper Family aficionados but have long since developed an individual sound based upon rare source material, inventive arrangements and occasional use of open tuned guitar accompaniments.  Their first CD “Long Songs - Traditional Songs from the Isle of Wight collected by W.H. Long” is released in June.

Press Release
The Dollymopps “Long Songs - Traditional Songs from the Isle of Wight - collected by W.H. Long”

A CD devoted entirely to traditional English folk songs collected on the Isle of Wight is due for release later this month. The CD is the work of Island group The Dollymopps who are: Virgil Philpott, his wife Dorana, and Dr Justin Smith. The group had been singing songs in harmony from the folk tradition of Southern England for some years when they wondered what their own backyard might have to offer. Virgil takes up the story:

“….received wisdom had it that no folk songs survived on the Isle of Wight but local singer Brian Reeves introduced us to ‘The Newchurch Carol’ in 2007 and we wondered what else might be out there... We did some digging which eventually led us to William Henry Long’s ‘Dictionary of Isle of Wight Dialect’ published in 1886.”

“William Henry Long was born to a Calbourne (West Wight) farming family in 1839. Very much against his family’s wishes, he pursued a literary career and eventually became a writer and antiquarian of such standing that when he died in 1896 he was thought worthy of an obituary in The Times. The Dictionary of Dialect was his first book and hidden away at the back were fifty five songs ‘…collected from the mouths of the peasantry’”.

Virgil continues: “…some of these songs were well known ‘regional’ folk songs, but others
were unique to the Island. Because Long only recorded the words, finding fitting traditional
tunes became an obsession for us. We spent many hours poring over old out-of-print tune collections and recordings of source singers. One forgotten song, for example, we traced back to its origins in a book of ‘Country Dances from the Year 1792’ in the British Library. But it was all well worth it. For the songs to have entered the oral tradition they had to
have something really special about them and there’s a genuine magic that’s attached to bringing them back to life again.”

The production of the CD and website were substantially assisted by West Wight Landscape Partnership whose director, Peter Fellows, says: “…we had applied for some Heritage Lottery funding to celebrate local heroes of the West Wight and W.H. Long fitted the bill perfectly. While his collection might be, long forgotten (if you’ll excuse the pun!), it is actually very significant. Nationally, it pre-dates the collecting done by the likes of Cecil
Sharp by nearly two decades - basically Long was a pioneer.”

Despite having painstakingly researched Long’s biography Justin Smith says the group would still like to know more “…if anybody out there knows anything about W.H. Long or his sources then something we’d love to hear from them. We’d particularly like to track down a photo because, if one exists, we’ve not discovered it yet…”

The Dollymopps recently performed at Fareham & Gosport Easter Festival and there is
interest in the project from a number of mainland folk festivals. Virgil says “…the Isle of
Wight folk song collection is something new and we hope to be taking the project on the road later this Summer and next year. The great thing is that since we’ve started researching Long we’ve uncovered all sorts of new leads. We’ve easily got another forty traditional songs with local links - and work on the second CD is already underway!” The Dollymopps’ “Long Songs” CD has a double launch on the Island. There will be some songs and a talk about the project in Long’s hometown at Calbourne Recreation Hall on Sunday 29th May followed by a traditional ‘singaround’ at the in The Sun Inn pub later that evening.

A more formal album launch comes later at The Methodist Church in Arreton on Saturday 18th June. The venue was chosen, says Justin, because it has “…the best acoustics on the Island”. At this concert The Dollymopps will be joined onstage by Norfolk melodeon maestro Tony Hall. Tony Hall has a folk music pedigree second to none played having on seminal folk albums by the likes of Nic Jones, Peter Bellamy and Maddy Prior & June Tabor. “Apart from being an amazing player and an engaging singer” says Virgil “...he’s utterly mad: easily the most eccentric performer I’ve ever seen. Brilliant!”

More details about the “Long Songs” CD, The Dollymopps’ performances and information
about William Henry Long can be found at www.thedollymopps.co.uk
“Tony Hall is… the English melodeon players that other melodeon players most admire” (Froots)
“Tony Hall…is the most important collateral accordionist of the English scene” (The Living Tradition)
Radio Interviewer: “I suppose we’d better talk about why we’re here (cue CD plug)”
Tony Hall: “We’re just a lot of atoms really aren’t we floating around in the cosmos...?"

www.thedollymopps.co.uk