Charles Wesley Godwin has released a new 7-song EP ‘Lonely Mountain Town', via Big Loud Records.
The new EP arrives following the announcement that Godwin will perform as part of the line-up for this year's Highways Festival. To celebrate the release, Godwin will play a free show at the Station Inn in Nashville this Saturday 1st March (doors at 2:30pm, show at 3pm), and then return to the Grand Ole Opry that evening. The Station Inn show will be an uncharacteristically intimate show for Godwin, who sold out two nights at the Ryman Auditorium when he last headlined Nashville in late 2023.
‘“It was really cathartic for me,” he says of re-teaming with his longtime producer, guitarist and bandmate, Al Torrence, at Torrence's Music Garden Studios in New Brighton, PA, to complete a handful of moving and at times melancholy cuts that ring with surefire sincerity and truth. Godwin notably recorded his vocals separately for the first time in his career in order to give them even more life and resonance.
Written principally on the road, ‘Lonely Mountain Town' is at its heart a collection of snapshots and quiet moments in life. The sort of poetic musings that find Godwin raking through situations with a fine-tooth comb and peeling back the layers on the most delicate situations thrown our way.
“These are character songs,” Godwin explains. “Most of them aren't about my life. They're just little pieces that I've taken from traveling.”
Godwin also got to work on ‘Lonely Mountain Town' with two musicians he'd long admired. Working with labelmate ERNEST on ‘Dead to Rights' taught Godwin how sometimes the best songs can be written without painstakingly obsessing over the smallest detail.
“I saw that maybe it isn't the worst thing in the world to sit down and try to write a song in 10 minutes and see how it turns out rather than toiling over a line for a week,” he admits.
On the EP he also covers Jason Molina's ‘Hammer Down', which paired Godwin with one of his musical heroes, Scott Avett. Godwin became fast friends with Avett after touring alongside the Avett Brothers as co-openers on Luke Combs' 2024 ‘Growin' Up and Gettin' Old' stadium tour. Most nights onstage, they'd duet on ‘Hammer Down'. It was a no-brainer then to enlist his new friend to record the song with him for Lonely Mountain Town.
Earlier this week, Godwin announced a trio of shows in May around his already announced appearance at the Highways Festival in London, UK on 17th May. Godwin will play Glasgow, UK at SWG3 on 15th May, Manchester, UK at Academy 2 on 18th May, and Dublin, IE at Academy Main Room on 19th May. Godwin will return to the UK this Summer for the Long Road Festival in Leicestershire, UK on 23rd August. Artist pre-sale for the Glasgow, Manchester and Dublin shows is 5th March at 10am local time, and general on sale is 7th March at 10am local time.
Godwin began his 2025 U.S. headline shows with a run of seven sold out shows last month, and he'll be back on the road in the U.S. with a new round of headline dates, beginning March 13 in Portland, Maine. In addition to his headline shows, Godwin and his band The Allegheny High will open for The Avett Brothers on the West Coast in April, and he will also join Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan on select Outlaw Music Festival dates in July.
Lonely Mountain Town track list
1. Lonely Mountain Town (Charles Wesley Godwin)
2. It's The Little Things (Charles Wesley Godwin)
3. Dead To Rights feat. ERNEST (Charles Wesley Godwin, Ernest Keith Smith, Chandler Paul Walters)
4. It's Her Move (Charles Wesley Godwin, Wyatt Flores, Aaron Raitiere)
5. Then I'm Gone (Charles Wesley Godwin)
6. She Don't Love Me Anymore (Charles Wesley Godwin, Zach McCord)
7. Hammer Down feat. Scott Avett (Jason Molina)
2025 Tour Dates
Mar 1 – Nashville, Tenn. – The Station Inn (FREE SHOW – 2:30 p.m. doors/3 p.m. show)
Mar 1 – Nashville, Tenn. – Grand Ole Opry
Mar 13 – Portland, Maine – State Theatre
Mar 14 – Providence, R.I. – Strand Ballroom
Mar 15 – Albany, N.Y. – Palace Theatre
Mar 21 – London, ON – London Music Hall – SOLD OUT
Mar 22 – Ottawa, ON – Bronson Theatre – SOLD OUT
Mar 23 – Ottawa, ON – Bronson Theatre – SOLD OUT
Mar 25 – Athens, Ohio – Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium
Apr 3 – Boise, ID – Idaho Central Arena
Apr 4 – Jackson, W.Y. – Rendezvous Music Festival
Apr 8 – Stateline, Nev. – Tahoe Blue Event Center*
Apr 10 – San Francisco, Calif. – Bill Graham Civic Auditorium*
Apr 11 – Santa Barbara, Calif. – Santa Barbra Bowl*
Apr 12 – Los Angeles, Calif. – Greek Theatre*
May 15 – Glasgow, UK – SWG3 Galvanizers
May 17 – London, UK – Highways Festival
May 18 – Manchester, UK – Academy 2
May 19 – Dublin, IE – Academy Main Room
Jul 11 – Milwaukee, Wis. – Harley Davidson Homecoming
Jul 12 – Chicago, Ill. – Windy City Smokeout
Jul 25 – Alpharetta, GA – Ameris Bank Amphitheatre^
Jul 26 – Charlotte, N.C. – PNC Music Pavilion^
Jul 27 – Raleigh, N.C. – Coastal Credit Union Music Park^
Aug 15 – Montreal, Calif. – Lasso Montréal
Aug 23 – Leicestershire, UK – Long Road Festival
Sept 6 – Madison, Ind. – Unbroken Circle Music Festival
* supporting The Avett Brothers
^ Outlaw Music Festival dates with Willie Nelson & Family, Bob Dylan, Turnpike Troubadours and Willow Avalon
