Morgantown – The lights are set to an orange hue as the The Allegheny High begins to assemble on the stage to pave the way for the magnetic front man that is about to break out into a raucous crowd pleaser. Charles Wesley Godwin, a hometown guy, has returned to play the second night of a four night run of sold out shows at The Metropolitan Theatre. They tear into the apropos Cue Country Roads. The song is being used in promos for UFC, a hype song for WVU football and it seems to be everywhere, but now, it’s on this stage.
The track refers to the John Denver classic that has become a tradition for so many West Virginians as they make the trek home for the holidays or any other visit. However, tonight, it reflects the surreal moment of Charles coming home to play to a fired up crowd that has watched him go from local artist, to being featured on the newest Hunger Games soundtrack, alongside of fellow West Virginian, Sierra Ferrell, and playing sold out shows, not only in his home state, but across the country.
This is Charles’ homecoming and he is making the most of it. We had a chance to sit down with him before the Friday, December 15th show, that featured Corduroy Brown as the opener, to discuss what it meant to come home and play these shows, that speech to the WVU football team, the importance of having WV bands open for him and our favorite track from his “Family Ties” album, The Flood.
Edited for clarity and brevity.
BB: What’s it like getting to be home in Morgantown and playing these sold out shows?
CWG: Oh it’s amazing! I slept seven hours last night! On a work night that’s like twice as much as usual.
BB: Yeah, you don’t have to load in and load out.
CWG: Woke up this morning, took my kids to daycare. I got to see them in the morning. Grabbed a coffee. It’s awesome. I wish I could do this a hundred times a year
BB: I want to talk to you about that speech you gave to the Mountaineer Football Team at the beginning of the season. Some have said online that speech is up there in the halls of great speeches given to the team. What’s it like to have given a speech that is being put on the same level of speeches given by Stewart and others?
CWG: No, no. Bill Stewart and Don Nehlen were much better orators than I was. They did a lot of hard cuts to make that speech sound that good. If I’d have known I would’ve prepped a little more so I didn’t throw f bombs out there as spacers. Room laughs
BB: In that speech you referred to a festival in Kentucky in which you all were booked in a time slot that felt like a disrespect to you all considering your talent and your experience in comparison to the bands following you. You drew the comparison to the Mountaineers being ranked 14th at the beginning of the season.
CWG: Yeah, that’s mental games. And there’s different tactics. Some people use their faith. Some people are naturally able to use their talent and are easy going and don’t have to use things like that. For me, just the way that I work, that stuff gets me going. I may not vocalize it publicly, but I gather up all of that I can to keep my fire going after all these years, and I try not to let it go, to draw on. So these are just kids, the oldest is 22, and I was just giving them a perspective on my mentality they could adopt that could serve them well.
BB: Now the season is over and you told them to focus on that number 14 and here they are finishing the regular season with 8 wins and 4th in the Big 12…
CWG: And a Hail Mary away from 2nd or 3rd.
BB: When you announced these shows, we were excited to see you have each show opened by another act from West Virginia. You gave Kindred Valley, Corduroy Brown, William Matheny and The Shoats these great opportunities that others in your position might not do. I feel like your mindset to that 2:20 played into this.
CWG: I’m very lucky and fortunate to be doing what me and the guys are doing. I have had a lot of support but I didn’t have too many bones thrown to me by more established folks in the industry as I was coming up, which is fine, no one owed me anything, but I made it a conscious point to be a little different with what I do. So, it was very important to me to pick West Virginia acts. If I can give them a theater full of people to play for have this experience the next time they do it, they will have been there and done that and hopefully it helps.
BB: That’s similar to our approach with Born & Bred. We want to give the up and coming guys the chance to be seen alongside of the Brad Paisleys and Charles Godwins of the state.
CWG: West Virginia has a ton of supportive people in the state as far as venues and booking go. I am referring more to artist to artist. There wasn’t much of that when I was coming up.
BB: Completely agree. When you were coming up the scene was very much very man for themselves in a lot of ways. That seems to be changing.
CWG: It was famine mentality. Owen Schmitt, Adam at 123, folks in Shinnston, John Bryant at The Purple Fiddle, Charles Hatcher in Lewisburg, Ann Thornton in Huntington, a lot of people that have been helpful but they weren’t artists helping each other. There weren’t very many established bands that could help. It’s not like Lexington where they had all of these bands and it was great to see these guys playing together and working together. I saw that and wished I had that coming up so that’s why I take these opportunities to help others out.
BB: One final question, because we love the song and it stands out from the rest of the tracks on “Family Ties.” It fits the album but it has this epic build and huge sweeping jam at the end and we just want to know what inspired it?
CWG: So, that’s a true story. My parents in the flood of ‘85, they were trying to get back to Seneca Rocks. At Red Creek, the bridge was washed out. My mom, a fifth grade school teacher, said “Go for it.” My dad gunned it and they made it over this gap and it was a pivotal moment in my moms life. What lengths would she go to for her family? She rose to the occasion. That’s what everyone hopes they would do but I don’t think everyone would.
Musically, it was influenced by Ben Howard. I was listening to his music a lot and he would use an instrumental to be a driver of the emotion in a story and I felt that would work well here. Explosions In The Sky was also influential on it.
BB: It has that same energy of what Bruce Springsteen did on the recent version of Tom Joad featuring Tom Morello on his High Hopes album.
CWG: I haven’t heard that yet. I’ve got to listen to that. I know what I’m listening to in the truck tonight on the drive home.
BB: Charles, thanks for talking with us. Have a great show tonight.
CWG: Thank you! It was good to see you.
We also spoke to openers Kindred Valley and Corduroy Brown.
Of the experience Kindred Valley’s Noah Freeman said “It was an unreal experience, It Charles and his whole crew made us feel welcome from the start, and to play in front of such an awesome crowd in that venue is a dream come true.”
Corduroy Brown said “To get to play with Charles, who is someone I’ve always looked up to, and to watch him make a gigantic wave all across the country, not just West Virginia, it’s kind of wild. You see this guy having this success and to get to share in that, it’s what you dream of. It’s an honor to be on the stage with Charles Wesley Godwin. To even be considered for this was mind blowing and simply an honor.”
