Charles Wesley Godwin is doubling down on himself, doubling down on his family, and doubling down on his faith for his upcoming album Christian Name that could see the beloved songwriter find another level in a career that’s already full of highlights.
Similar to the upcoming album from The Red Clay Strays, it’s not fair to characterize the work as strictly of the Christian or Gospel realm, but Godwin is definitely leaning into those inspirations for what is officially his fourth solo album to be released on July 24th. More specifically, the album comes after a tragic time in the Godwin home after his wife Samatha experienced a stillbirth of the couple’s third child, Samuel. But instead of shaking Godwin’s faith, it steeled it.
“Coming out of that, I recommitted to my faith in God more so than I have at any point in my life. It really changed me,” he says. “The point of this project was to point to God, and let people know He’s really helped me through this time in my life.”
Along with leaning on his faith, Godwin is also leaning on the help of others on Christian Name like never before. Once again the album is produced by his guitar player and bandleader Al Torrance. But where many of Godwin’s songs in the past were solo writes, he worked with some heavy hitters as collaborators, including Lori McKenna, Stephen Wilson Jr., Liz Rose, Aaron Ratiere, Travis Meadows, Tom Douglas, and Scooter Carusoe.
But perhaps the biggest boost Godwin gets on the album is collaborating with Luke Combs on the album’s lead single “Better That Way” (listen below). Like so many other great songwriters, Combs has allowed Godwin to open for him in the past, and was more than happy to lend his voice to a song. Wyatt Flores also appears on the album.
“I had a lot of help with this album — I sought out people and they brought a lot of the hope and the light and the lighter moments of the album,” Godwin says. “That was a lot of their influence. The album needed that.”
He received another helping hand from his late grandfather and namesake, Charles Godwin, who was a Methodist minister, and appears in the background of the album cover.
“These songs really meant a lot to me,” Godwin says. “There’s parts of me and parts of the things that I’ve gone through in the last couple years that are in each and every song on this album.”
Christian Name is now available for pre-save.
TRACK LIST:
1. Sermon [Al Torrence, Dave Stacy]
2. Try Again [Charles Wesley Godwin, Travis Meadows]
3. Better That Way (feat. Luke Combs) [Charles Wesley Godwin, Scooter Carusoe, Al Torrence]
4. Hallelujah High [Charles Wesley Godwin, Scooter Carusoe]
5. Hey There Son (feat. Wyatt Flores) [Charles Wesley Godwin, Lori McKenna]
6. I Caught the Sunrise [Charles Wesley Godwin, Liz Rose]
7. Place I Know [Charles Wesley Godwin, Scooter Carusoe]
8. Street Advice [Charles Wesley Godwin, Scooter Carusoe, Tom Douglas]
9. Every Once in a While [Charles Wesley Godwin, Travis Meadows, Dave Stacy]
10. Christian Name [Charles Wesley Godwin]
11. God’s Been Good to Me [Charles Wesley Godwin, Aaron Raitiere]
12. Gospel of the South [Craig Boyd, Tony Lane, David Cory Lee]
13. Brand New [Charles Wesley Godwin, Stephen Wilson Jr.]
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source savingcountrymusic.com ’
