Charles Wesley Godwin - Lonely Mountain Town EP (2025) Hi-Res

Charles Wesley Godwin would rather write than just about anything else. Whether it was the career-halting pandemic, which interrupted any momentum he’d been building up after the release of his well-received 2019 debut, Seneca, or the first big taste of success he had following his 2023 breakthrough, Family Ties, Godwin wrote his way through both the downtime and the non-stop touring. Fortunately. He’s damn good at it – the result of the latter is his latest release, the seven song EP Lonely Mountain Town. Written primarily on the road and recorded during a rare break, Godwin has downshifted from the bigger sound of Family Ties and his booming live shows, instead offering a small set of intimate character studies while showing another side of his storytelling prowess.

The title track, which leads off the EP, is a melancholy look at a lost love. Backed by eerie slide guitar from producer Al Torrence, Godwin’s lovelorn protagonist sees his former partner everywhere – “Ghosts of us dance through these streets/It’s a waltz of memories haunting me.” On a song originally intended for an unnamed movie, the imagery fittingly stands out – “I wanna stay right when you stood right here/This lonely mountain town.” The EP’s first single, “The Little Things,” is a lighter affair about exactly what the title tells you – finding the small joys in a mucked-up world: “Don’t sweat the big pay, the big show/All the big things you want most/It’s the little things.”

While most of the tunes on Lonely Mountain Town were penned by Godwin during those downtimes, he welcomed help in crafting the songs for the EP. “Dead to Rights” is a steely ode to unavoidable love – “You’re written on my stone before I even die” – that contains a nod to Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Boxer” and features vocals (and a writing credit) from mainstream country artist ERNEST. “It’s Her Move” was co-written by fast riser Wyatt Flores and Grammy winner Aaron Raitiere, but what truly sparkles is the acoustic interplay between Godwin and Torrence. And Godwin spends the EP’s last moments honoring one of our best writers, Jason Molina. Paired with Scott Avett, Godwin lends an introspective bent to “Hammer Down,” while Avett offers just a little bit of his band’s grandeur to the proceedings. Only a little, though, because even as Godwin’s musical reach may be getting bigger, on Lonely Mountain Town, he’s choosing to write about (and play for) the type of folks who might be showing up at his shows, quietly nodding in the back in the room, seeking a moment of catharsis and understanding.

Song I Can’t Wait to Hear Live: “Hammer Down” – Godwin included this in an effort to “bring new life to a song that a lot of people hadn’t been exposed to.” First sung with Avett on tour, and now on this EP, let’s hope it brings fresh ears to the late Molina’s work. Much of what we listen to today owes a debt to one of alt-country’s true pioneers.

Lonely Mountain Town was produced, recorded and mixed by Al Torrence and mastered by Pete Lyman. All original songs written by Charles Wesley Godwin, with co-writes going to Ernest Keith Smith, Chandler Paul Walters, Wyatt Flores, Aaron Raitiere and Zach McCord. Musicians on the album include Godwin (vocals, acoustic guitar), Torrence (drums, bass, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, slide guitar, piano, Hammond B3 organ, synthesizers, background vocals, Mellotron), Nate Catanzarite (bowed bass, upright bass, bass), ERNEST (vocals), Chandler Paul Walters (pedal steel), Eric Dull (mandolin), Max Somerville (piano, harmonium, drums, Hammond B3 organ) and Scott Avett (vocals).