These two go way back.
Today Charles Wesley Godwin dropped his latest single, a collab with Luke Combs called “Better That Way,” just a couple weeks after teasing the song during his performance at Stagecoach Festival in California.
The West Virginia native opened up for Luke on his Growin’ Up and Gettin’ Old stadium tour back in 2024, but as it turns out, their relationship goes back even further than that – before either of them were the stars they are today.
Charles first opened for Luke nearly 10 years ago, way back in January 2016 at a bar called Schmitt’s Saloon in CWG’s hometown of Morgantown, West Virginia. (The bar was owned by Mountaineers legend Owen Schmitt, a fullback who famously split his head open with his own helmet).
Obviously this was before Luke was selling out stadiums: He had just released his This One’s For You EP back in November 2015, which featured songs like “Hurricane,” “She Got the Best Of Me,” and “Beer Can.” This EP would later go on to become his debut full-length album, which has since been certified 8x platinum.
Charles, meanwhile, was just getting started in music himself and would release his first project, an EP with his band Union Sound Treaty, later that year.
Well for the Morgantown show, Luke didn’t even have an opener – so Schmitt’s Saloon called on a local guy to kick things off.
During a conversation we had with Charles, he recalled for us the experience of getting to open up for the future superstar – in front of a crowd of about 350 people:
“Owen really believed in me and would give me regular gigs. Every Monday I would play Wing Night, Monday Night Football. And then he would have my band play all the time and give us opportunities to open for people.
So Luke came through town. Luke wasn’t at the point yet where he was bringing openers on the road with him. So they plugged me in there as the local opener. It was wild. I think we played to like 350 people. Luke Combs is singing Hurricane, which was starting to blow up there on the radio. And it was amazing.”
@whiskeyriff♬ original sound – Whiskey Riff
Obviously things have changed quite a bit for both of them. Just a year later, Luke would have his first #1 single with “Hurricane” and would go on to become one of the top-selling country artists in history – in less than a decade.
And Charles has become one of the top artists in the so-called “alt. country” scene (which is a title that I hate, because he should be included right up there with the top mainstream country artists).
It was no doubt a full-circle moment when Charles had the opportunity to collab with Luke for his latest single, a reflective, blue-collar anthem that fits perfectly for both artists:
“I’m better when my jeans have lost about half their blue
I’m better when the work on the farm is done by noon
Better when her eyes of green are looking back at me
We fell in love at 23, you’re still mine to this day
Yeah, I’m just better that way”
There’s no doubt that Charles has already been introduced to many in the mainstream thanks to festivals like Stagecoach – and thanks to opening for names like Luke Combs and, this past year, Eric Church.
Hopefully though, adding Luke to the song provides an opportunity for Charles to finally get a radio hit and show everybody else what they’ve been missing. (Honestly, I’m jealous of people who get to listen to Seneca and How the Mighty Fall for the first time).
It would only be fitting if CWG finally has his mainstream breakthrough moment thanks to a collab with Luke Combs.
After all, these two go way back – all the way back to a bar in Morgantown, West Virginia in front of a crowd of 350 people.
