'Kentish Hops' EPs appear to have been made in response to books of dance instructions, written by A. 'Bert' Simons. The first book, 'Kentish Hops - First Pickings' is reported to date from 1961; an EP called 'Kentish Hops' was issued by the English Folk Dance and Song Society at some point in the first half of the '60s, with a catalogue number of PR-EP-315. Other books in the series followed, 'Second Pickings' in 1970, 'Third Pickings' in 1971, and 'Fourth Pickings' in 1972; the first book is said to have been revised in 1977. It is possible that the Journeymen's EP shown above (KH-2) was recorded not long after the publication of the Second Picking: the fact that it is in stereo suggests 1970s, and R.G. Jones Ltd, who made the recording, seem not to have made any records after 1973, so around 1971 appears to be as good a bet as any. That said, KH-3, an EP by the Uplanders, came out in 1978 on the Wealden (q.v.) label, several years after the 'Third Pickings' book. Information about KH-1 is hard to come by, but it too is reported to have been on Wealden; the track listing is the same as that of the EFDSS EP, so it may have been a reissue. If there was an EP with tunes from the Fourth Pickings I have yet to find it. As can be seen from the label, the record was funded by sponsorship from the Kent branch of the English Folk Dance and Song Society. It may well be that the label wasn't called 'Kentish Hops', or that it hadn't got a name at all, but the catalogue prefix was KH, and I had to call it something, so I've listed it under that title. Apparently the only thing Kentish about most of the dances in the books was that their titles were to do with that county - they weren't collected there, or perhaps even danced there. The Journeymen recorded two EPs for the EFDSS label in the first half of the '70s, 'Playford Party' (ED-104) and 'Dancing English 2' (ED-115).
Copyright 2009 Robert Lyons.