Episode 147 - Joe Philpott of the White Horse Guitar Club

On this week’s episode, we’re joined by Joe Philpott, songwriter, musician, author, and founder of both Rubyhorse and the White Horse Guitar Club, a Cork artist whose story spans ambition, burnout, reinvention, and rediscovery. From forming Rubyhorse as teenagers in Bishopstown, Co. Cork to chasing the dream across America, Joe’s journey took him from local gigs to major label deals, billboard success, and appearances on US late night television. Along the way life on the road brought its own challenges. After years of touring coast to coast, navigating the collapse of the music industry, and living what Joe describes as an “outlaw existence”, the cracks began to show and he eventually stepped away. What followed was not an exit from music, but a transformation. Joe immersed himself in music and healthcare across Europe, working in hospitals, rehabilitation centres, palliative care, and community programmes, rediscovering music not as business, but as a service. That philosophy now runs through everything he does, including the White Horse Guitar Club, a collective built less on ambition and more on connection, presence, and shared experience. We also talk about his memoir, All Roads Lead to Where You’re From: Bishopstown to the Beatles, written after a doctor’s warning forced him to slow down and reassess. Whether discussing the influence of John Prine, or reflecting on advice he’d give his younger self, Joe speaks with the hard earned clarity of someone who’s lived the highs and survived the troughs. Join us as we talk about American dreams, Cork roots, George Harrison’s generosity, walking away at the right time, falling back in love with music, and why sometimes the most extraordinary things grow from the most ordinary beginnings.

Let Christy Take It are proud to bring you Joe Philpott

If you enjoy our show please Like and subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts

Thanks to our sponsor Irish Woodcraft, please check them out at https://irishwoodcraft.ie