Charles Wesley Godwin ended an exhilarating 2023 with sold-out shows in Morgantown.
If you haven’t heard his music yet, you’ve probably heard his name: Morgantown native singer–songwriter Charles Wesley Godwin has burst onto the country and folk music scene in the past few years.
You could date it to his 2019 debut album, Seneca, praised by everyone from Billboard to Rolling Stone. But the pandemic shutdowns that followed came as a hard reset. It was really 2021’s How the Mighty Fall and the intensive tour with his longtime band, The Allegheny High, that solidified Godwin’s fan base. That album straddles the borderlands between genres, an admiring NPR review observed, a country album by an Appalachian folk singer, “laced with enough electricity to satisfy the Saturday night revelers and enough scaled-down acoustic balladry to soundtrack the slow, gentle pace of Sunday morning.”
Godwin’s 2023 got off to an auspicious start in January when Amazon Music named him a Breakthrough Artist to Watch. He played the Grand Ole Opry in February and toured the U.S. club and festival circuit hard through the summer and into fall, firing up crowds for Zach Bryan and headlining sold-out shows from Atlanta to Los Angeles.
In September 2023, he played the Healing Appalachia Festival at the West Virginia state fairgrounds to help raise funds for opioid addiction awareness and recovery. That same weekend, Big Loud Records released his third album, Family Ties. Referencing influences including Willie Nelson and Bruce Springsteen, Godwin describes this as an intensely personal album, and its reviewers are hailing him as an authentic Appalachian voice.
Four sold-out shows in his home town of Morgantown in December capped off Godwin’s blockbuster 2023. His energetic touring schedule continues in 2024, with shows across the U.S. already scheduled into the fall. Follow him on Facebook to enjoy the fun, and find his tour schedule, albums, and more on his website. charleswgodwin.com, @charlesgodwinmusic on FB
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