Friday Church
Joey Philpott — Friday Church
Ken Floyd Key West Musicians Festival founder, and singer/songwriter Joey Philpott
Joseph David Philpott (Joey) was born and raised in Roanoke, Virginia. He idolized his grandfather (Andy Anderson) who played bluegrass music and had a band. Around age 8, he started playing music and would follow “Papa” to most of his gigs and quickly learned a few songs. At age 10, he attended the big Halloween Festival in Roanoke where his grandfather’s band was playing. Joey was coaxed by Papa on stage for his musical debut, in his skeleton costume.
As a young man, Joey didn’t feel like he had any talent but whenever he performed, things just seemed to come naturally. He says music just makes him happy – whether he’s playing at a gig or just sitting on his porch. He performed regularly with several acoustic duos traveling from Richmond up through Pennsylvania, playing Bluegrass music.
Friday Church members in their pews
He first came to Key West in 1998 with friends. He discovered the depth of music performances at all the local venues. Key West seemed alive with music. He and his friend David Carter walked into a venue where an acoustic guitar player was performing. It was Joel Nelson who had attended high school with Carter in Richmond and hadn’t seen him in forever. Joel stopped in the middle of a song to say hello to his old friend.
Joey was introduced to Joel Nelson and through Joel, met several other Key West musicians. He would later get gigs at the Hog’s Breath Saloon and a number of other venues. Soon, he was part of the Key West music scene, writing songs about the locals, and performing at Smokin’ Tuna, the Sunset Tiki Bar, Conch Republic Seafood and others over the next 17 years.
He has written about 15 songs and recorded several of them. Russ Scavelli and Laura Black (Black & Skabuddah) recorded his song about a person who is taking himself way too seriously titled “I’m a Bigger Parrothead Than You”. Laura, who is also a very good artist, painted a large white cockatoo and asked permission to name her painting after Joey’s song.
In 2010, while listening to music with his friend Steve Mellette, Steve invited Joey to “Friday Church”. Joey said he was not very religious and everyone at the table kind of laughed. Steve explained Friday Church was a gathering at Schooner Wharf Bar for locals, and anyone else in town, for music and fun and had absolutely nothing to do with religion.
Singer/Songwriter Joey Philpott
Usually a dozen or more music fans would gather, sometimes a birthday or holiday was celebrated and a few libations were involved. Sometimes a guitar was played and a few group photos were always taken. The group would then adjourn to hear a final set usually of Michael McCloud. Michael has retired and today Tony Baltimore performed and sat in for the group shot. Then the group is off to the “after glow” at the Galleon Resort Sunset Tiki Bar. This tradition has lasted for well over 15 years and a reunion of Friday Church continues every once in a while. ( BTW, Joey’s birthday was celebrated this past Friday with a Tequila Sunrise cake.)
After Joey attended this amazing non-religious experience for the first time, he was inspired to write a song about Friday Church. Joey told Mellette that he had written the song and Steve asked him to perform his new song at the 2015 Key West Musician Festival. It was recorded along with many other songs that day and later included in the annual festival album. That’s how I became aware of the Friday Church song and began playing it on my local music hour radio show Wednesdays on Island 106.9.
“Father” Steve Mellette
I have been trying to meet this songwriter for a while and Steve Mellette told me that Joey would be in town for Friday Church this week. I attended and got to meet Joey Philpott and discuss his song and his music. If interested you can hear Joey’s song about Friday Church, and his other song I’m A Bigger Parotthead Than You, on my next radio show February 4th at 7:00 pm on Island 106.9.
One of Joey’s prized possessions is his grandfather’s 1939 Gibson acoustic guitar. One night at the Richmond area Jordan Point Country Club, Joey felt comfortable enough to pull out his grandfather’s guitar and play some of his old bluegrass songs.
After his first set, Joey put a second microphone on the stage because you couldn’t plug this old Gibson into an amplifier. The guitar had to be held close to a microphone. He explained to the audience the history of the guitar and how it hadn’t been played in over 50 years and that he was going to perform some music from Papa’s era. Joey played a song called “Charlies Shoes”, along with a couple of Ray Price songs including “Heartaches By the Numbers,” and several other old country songs. While he was playing this music with Papa’s guitar that hadn’t been played in a very long time, there was an unusual and overwhelming vibe that really made Joey feel good.
Friday Church Members 1/23/2026
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