Charles Wesley Godwin announces deeply personal album Christian Name

Charles Wesley Godwin returned to CBS Saturday Sessions with Hallelujah High as Big Loud rolled out Christian Name, the album the label announced May 19 and released July 24. The West Virginia singer-songwriter has built his profile on Appalachian storytelling from Morgantown, and the new record pushes that identity deeper into country music’s national lane.

Christian Name follows 2023’s Family Ties and was produced by Al Torrence. In a May 2026 statement, Godwin said the songs meant a lot to him because there are “parts of me” in them. Big Loud also tied the campaign to Better That Way, a collaboration with Luke Combs, and to touring plans that put Godwin alongside Dylan Gossett and Kacey Musgraves.

The record is rooted in the kind of private loss that has increasingly shaped Godwin’s writing. In 2024, Godwin and his wife, Samantha, lost their son Samuel, who was delivered stillborn. Rolling Stone described Christian Name as centered on heartbreaking loss and family faith, while People said it honors both Samuel and Godwin’s late grandfather, Charles Godwin.

Godwin previewed Hallelujah High on social media, saying it was written “straight out of the notebook” with Scooter Carusoe, a detail that fits the direct, first-person style that has made his work stand out on larger stages. His national TV debut came on CBS Saturday Sessions in November 2023 with Another Leaf, and the return put his newest material in front of the same broad country audience now carrying more Appalachian-rooted voices into the mainstream.