Charles Wesley Godwin says Christian Name was shaped by stillbirth grief
Charles Wesley Godwin told Rolling Stone his new album Christian Name helped him process the stillbirth of his son Samuel.
By Bianca Rossi · Entertainment Editor
3 min read
Charles Wesley Godwin’s Christian Name arrives July 24 with a story far heavier than a standard album rollout: the West Virginia singer-songwriter told Rolling Stone the record was reshaped after the stillbirth of his son Samuel in August 2024.
Godwin said he and his wife, Samantha, lost Samuel on Aug. 22, 2024. “He was stillborn. I buried him. Ever since that day, I’ve been a different person,” he told Rolling Stone.
The loss came during what had been a banner stretch for Godwin. After releasing Family Ties in late 2023, he spent 2024 playing sold-out headline dates and opening for Luke Combs, Turnpike Troubadours, and Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, according to Rolling Stone. Six days before Samuel’s death, Godwin opened for Turnpike and Isbell in Kansas City before a crowd of 18,000 and joined Turnpike during the encore.
What is Charles Wesley Godwin's Christian Name about?
Christian Name is an album about faith, grief, family, and recovery, according to Rolling Stone’s interview with Godwin. It is not described as a gospel record, but Godwin said making it helped him work through what happened after Samuel’s death.
Godwin told Rolling Stone he had been writing steadily before the loss, but afterward the songs he had already written no longer fit what he needed to express. One track did survive: “Christian Name,” which he wrote in 2023 during a rare weekend at home after putting his children to bed.
The title track nods to Godwin’s great-grandfather, Charles Godwin, a Methodist preacher, according to Rolling Stone. Godwin said that night he began thinking his next album should focus on faith.
The album contains 13 tracks if its opener, “Sermon,” is counted. Rolling Stone described “Sermon” as a sermon from preacher Dave Stacy set over a piano line. Godwin wrote the title track by himself, while the other 11 songs were collaborations with writers including Stephen Wilson Jr., Aaron Raitiere, Lori McKenna, and Liz Rose.
Godwin said the co-writing made the album more balanced than it might have been if he had made it alone. He told Rolling Stone that after what he and Samantha went through, he needed help, and that without collaborators the record likely would have been “too dark” and difficult to hear.
Al Torrance, Godwin’s bandmate, produced Christian Name. Rolling Stone reported that recording happened across much of a year in Bend, Oregon, New York City, Nashville, and mainly at Torrance’s Music Garden Studios in New Brighton, Pennsylvania.
Two prominent voices appear on the album. Luke Combs sings on “Better That Way,” a brighter, faster song about finding reasons to feel joy again. Godwin told Rolling Stone he wanted Combs on it because of his voice, their shared values, and Combs’ standing in country radio.
Wyatt Flores appears on “Hey There Son,” a song Godwin began in 2019 after the birth of his first child and later finished with Lori McKenna. Rolling Stone reported that the final verse shifts to “Hey There Dad,” with Flores singing as a child responding to Godwin.
Godwin and Samantha later welcomed another son a little more than a year after Samuel’s death, according to Rolling Stone. The couple now has two boys and a girl.
Godwin has also started the Christian Name Tour, which Rolling Stone reported will run through November and include co-headline dates with Dylan Gossett in August and September. For the first time, Samantha and the children joined him on the road at the start of the tour.
This story draws on original reporting from Rolling Stone.