WHILE most teenagers grab their phones at every free moment and hit social media hard, a 17-year-old singer-songwriter’s default setting sees her reach for her ukulele.

Musical inspiration comes to Molly Jervis from many areas; it could be a pal who came to stay but spent more time on her iPhone than talking to Molly, or an unwanted suitor, fake-tanned friends or a dearly departed great-grandmother.

When inspiration strikes, very soon afterwards a new song appears, and her latest creations are enjoying a welcome degree of success. Molly’s debut single, Goodbye, has achieved streams in the thousands and her next, Bats in the Belfry, is anticipated as the soundtrack for a national advertising campaign for the charity Annie Mawson’s Sunbeams Trust.

Molly, of Staffield, south east of Carlisle, is already a prolific songwriter for the band Roisin Dubh, which she formed with her father, teacher Martin, 50, and family friend, rat catcher and drummer Si Dalton, in November 2016.

“My dad has always played in cover bands so I have been surrounded by music but, for me, it all started when I was about four when I suddenly asked to play the harp,” recalls Molly, who, as currently the only A-level music student at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Penrith, is hoping to continue her studies on a degree course at Durham University next year.

“There aren’t that many harp teachers about so I was encouraged to play piano instead and now I’m working towards my grade eight. Previously I have learned grade pieces predominantly by ear because I have a musical form of dyslexia which makes the notes jump around unless I wear tinted glasses, something that we only discovered recently.

“I composed my first piece for piano when I was about seven and I remember playing my own music at school concerts, including a performance by the school choir of one of my own Christmas carols in an end-of-term service at QEGS.”

When Molly was 14, Martin gave her a ukulele to play with. “I offered her tuition but she decided that she would prefer to explore the instrument for herself,” recalls Martin, who teaches at Kirkoswald Primary School. “Then one night, when I was watching TV with her mum, she came down and asked us to listen to her play. It was so different from what she did in the primary school choir and the song she’d written was really good. It was lovely to hear.

“Shortly after she asked me to accompany her on the bass and Si joined in with percussion. Before we knew it we’d learned about a dozen songs and it just worked.”

After forming Roisin Dubh – which is Irish for ‘black rose’ and named after a Thin Lizzy song – the three-piece band began playing gigs, festivals and supporting American touring bands such as The Molochs, Hungrytown and Gringo Star.

“My and Si’s previous band – Lady and the Bad Dogz – had been asked to headline a village beer festival. The organisers asked Roisin Dubh to perform in the afternoon in front of about 200 people,” says Martin. “It was a stage of pallets and fairy-lights and everyone knew Mol from primary school but had never heard her music. You could see people’s mouths fall open as it wasn’t what they expected. It’s so hard to describe the band’s genre – we just call it ‘Molly Music’. It’s like nothing you have heard before. Performing Molly’s original music makes me feel so proud.”

Molly takes inspiration from real life for the lyrics of the band’s originals. Goodbye was about Si’s son leaving for university, which was an emotional time for the family. “Only thing was that by the time the song was recorded he’d come back home so we had to add a happy smiley bit on the end in the studio to make it more cheerful,” says Martin. “Molly comes up with the bones, the chord progressions, the lyrics and the vocal melody of the songs. I put the bass in and Si adds the percussion.

“Molly has always been creative. Whilst at North Berwick, near Edinburgh, a few years ago we visited a derelict mansion called Seacliff and afterwards she ended up writing an 80,000-word novel about it called Patience. If she wasn’t doing that she was writing her own episodes of the TV comedy Father Ted.”

The band plays a mixture of original material and covers that have been deconstructed and then reassembled in Molly’s own unique way. The covers are varied ranging from the 60s through to the present, featuring artists including Radiohead, Etta James, The Stone Roses and Limp Bizkit. Earlier, the material consisted more of covers than originals, although nowadays the band prefers to perform Molly’s original music, which appeals to audiences ranging from children to octogenarians.

“We have about 30 songs ready now to record,” says Molly, “and I’m pleased with the way the first single has gone. Aldora Britain Records, which produces as an e-zine for unsigned and underground artists, has included Goodbye in a compilation album and we are hoping to appear at some bigger festivals next year.”

The band has also performed in aid of the Sunbeams Trust, helping to raise £3,500 for the charity, run by local harpist Annie Mawson, which helps severely disadvantaged and disabled people in Cumbria to improve the quality of their life and self-esteem through the creative freedom of music.

The band plans to make a further contribution to Annie Mawson’s charity.

Molly says: “I’m not into tech and social media. If I get a second I just go to the piano to compose or pick up my ukulele and write a new song for the band. One of the earlier songs I wrote was Bats in the Belfry, in memory of my great-grandma who had suffered from dementia. This is going to be Roisin Dubh’s next single. Annie has suggested it be used in a national advertising campaign and we will donate some of the profits to the charity along with Dementia UK.

“It doesn’t take me long to write. I often hear a melody whilst on the school bus or sitting at the keyboard. I imagine composing as a little guy in my head who lives in my subconscious, writing all the songs for me, and I just transcribe them as best as I can.

“When I hear a composition back, I don’t even remember writing it. Music is very powerful. It makes you feel like there is something higher and otherworldly and I want to understand it further and make a contribution to the music industry.

“I see it as a journey, one that could see me become a composer or busking on the pavement outside Wetherspoons. Whatever the destination the journey is going to be musical.”

n To hear Roisin Dubh’s music search for them on Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music or YouTube. Visit the band's website here or go to Facebook @roisindubh.uk, or Instagram, @roisindubh.uk.