Before his solo career took off, Charles Wesley Godwin was kicking around with his band Union Sound Treaty. Now, on his own, Godwin has become a staple in the West Virginian Appalachian music scene. His eloquent songwriting and one-of-a-kind voice have set him apart from many other regional musicians. Under Big Loud Records, the same label Morgan Wallen and HARDY are signed to, he’s gearing up to release his new EP, Lonely Mountain Town.
Recorded at Music Garden Studios in New Brighton, PA, he’s once again teaming up with Al Torrence to write and produce the project. While Godwin and Torrence have been working together, they’ve got a strong sense of how they want to take their music.
“You know, Al and I just get along real well. And Al is, I think, an immensely talented musician and producer. He really knows the technical side of things as well,” Godwin said on how his relationship with Al Torrence has evolved. “He and I can be straight up together. Ego doesn’t get in the way when we’re working together.”
Coming up on this latest project, Godwin spent time simply creating music as a therapeutic outlet for him. After reeling from a personal tragedy, going away to mentally decompress and write songs was an emotional outlet many people can relate to. “It’s always been my therapy. Writing songs has always made me happy. It’s kind of my emotional outlet… so, you know, music’s my outlet,” Godwin explained.
The mountaineer found solace in working with his bandmates and a sense of pride when they would finish a song. The last album, Family Ties, was full of personal stories, and in this project, Godwin was able to branch out and tell stories that weren’t necessarily based on his own lived experiences.
Inspired by a fly-fishing trip in New Mexico, “It’s Her Move” blends an entirely fictional story with elements of his own life and the scenery of northern New Mexico. Written alongside Wyatt Flores and Aaron Raitiere, the track contains unique locations that help the listener gain a sense of place and location. “I think it’s always been a part of my writing. I like putting the details in so somebody can picture a setting while listening to it,” Godwin explained.
First and foremost, Godwin is a fan of music before he’s a musician himself. When developing this project, he found himself repeatedly listening to the classic Simon and Garfunkel song “The Boxer.” When he walked into a writing session with Ernest and Chandler Walters, they had a unique idea to write a sequel to the iconic moment in Simon and Garfunkel history. Telling stories that are interesting to him has made the journey he’s on so much fun and personal for him.
Although his original tales are some of the most prolific stories in modern music, Godwin is no stranger to covers, and someone else’s song is one of his own. “I really dig ones that I can kinda sink my teeth into and put my own twist on,” he said about “Hammer Down,” first sung by Jason Molina of the band Magnolia Electric Company. “It’s a really powerful song. Right. Again, that’s one of those songs I’ve listened to on repeat for days at a time, you know, over the last decade on multiple occasions.”
For those who didn’t discover Godwin on social media or stumbled upon his clever stories by clicking around Spotify, he was seen opening for Zach Bryan for a number of years. The relationship between Godwin and Bryan is one of admiration and collaboration.
“Zach [Bryan] is really good at describing in detail a particular emotion in the human experience. I think that had to have impressed upon me that that side of his art that he’s just excelled so well at when describing that emotion,” Godwin detailed. “I think he’s excelled so well at describing that emotion at any moment in somebody’s life. I think Zach’s really good at breaking that down.”
After he went out on the road with Zach Bryan, Charles was invited to go out with Luke Combs in the summer of 2024 and learned an important lesson on culture and how many moving parts go into shows like Combs’. “Luke has an amazing culture in his tour. And Luke’s culture is a very, very positive culture, very welcoming, and that has to come from the top down.”
Of the additional openers for Luke Combs, Godwin was joined by a band he’s admired for a long time, The Avett Brothers. He began singing “Hammer Down” with the group on tour, and that relationship flourished, with Scott Avett joining him on the final cut of the song for the EP. “I was like, what could I do to get them to come on stage with me and play a song? So I thought that choosing a Jason Molina [Hammer Down] song and inviting them to come up with me would be, first off, like, a cool homage to Jason, and I figured it was almost like an offer they couldn’t refuse.”
Since Family Ties, Charles Wesley Godwin’s career has been on an upward trajectory for the moon. He’s used creating music as a therapeutic outlet for him when emotions were at their toughest to process. “To me, it was very therapeutic to make this EP, and hopefully, it makes people feel better when they listen to it,” Godwin explained.
Reflecting on the EP, Godwin says he enjoyed creating it, which is what the job is all about. It’s a collection of tracks filled with themes of love and longing that may not have found a home on another album.
