It can’t get much better than Charles Wesley Godwin covering one of the greatest songwriters of all time.
Just when I thought it may not be possible to become a bigger fan, CWG announced today via Instagram, that he and his backing band the Allegheny High will be releasing a cover of Chris Knight’s classic “The Jealous Kind.”
“Last May, the Allegheny and I spent half a day at The Church in Pittsburgh recording a few songs.
The first of those, a cover of Chris Knight’s “The Jealous Kind,” comes out this Friday. I should specify that these are NOT part of the new album that will be out later this year, but hopefully it will hold you over until then.
More details soon!”
I don’t know about y’all, but I love it whenever my favorite artists release covers.
Especially when the tune they are covering is likely not very well known to their primary audience. Of course, I love their original music, and I never end up listening to the covers too long after the release, but I find it an interesting insight into an artist’s influences and musical taste when they release covers. And when that taste aligns with my own, it makes me like that artist even more.
This is exactly the case with CWG’s decision to cover one of my favorite Chris Knight songs. For those of you who may not be familiar, Knight hails from Western Kentucky but found particular fame in Texas and Oklahoma. A prolific songwriter from the 1990s through much of the 2010s, Knight is a master lyricist and has been a great influence to many of today’s greatest songwriters.
Prior to focusing on his own music career, Knight wrote tons of songs recorded by other acts including Randy Travis, John Anderson, Montgomery Gentry, Blake Shelton, Cross Canadian Ragweed, and more.
With a knack for storytelling and powerfully sad songs, Knight’s own music is truly a force to be reckoned with. And Charles Wesley Godwin, a fellow Appalachian born artist, is one of the perfect artists to do Knight’s originals justice.
The title track from Knight’s 2003 album of the same name, “The Jealous Kind” is one of his best.
Check out the original version below.
And in just a couple of days, we’ll be able to hear CWG and the Allegheny High singing this one.
As he implied in the Instagram caption, Godwin has been working on a highly anticipated new album, but has not revealed many details about its release. While we now know that he will release this cover and a few other songs separate from the upcoming album, we do know now that we can expect it to drop at some point this year.
To hold you over in the meantime, here are a couple of my favorite unreleased Charles Wesley Godwin tracks that could potentially make the album.
“Headwaters”
“Skyline Blues”
Since Godwin has blown up recently, and is carrying that momentum into his upcoming album, a large portion of his young and rapidly growing fanbase probably isn’t too familiar with Chris Knight’s music.
Whether this applies to you or not, all of this talk has got itching to listen to some of Knight’s stuff, so check out a few more of my favorite songs from one of the best writers out there.
“Enough Rope” – Enough Rope (2006)
“Down the River” – A Pretty Good Guy (2001)
“Love And A .45” – Chris Knight (1998)
