Just over a year ago, Cole Goodwin introduced himself to the country music world with his debut EP, Soon Enough. That EP was the realization of years of musical dreams for the Georgia native, who spent many nights scouring YouTube for any Hank Jr. video he could find.
About two months ago, Goodwin returned with “When You Get Home,” a fiddle and steel soaked tune about distance in a relationship. That effort, easily a song of the year contender, kicks off the next chapter in Goodwin’s career, with a new page, “What Dad Did,” a sentimental song about his father, set for release on Friday.
We chatted with Goodwin about his early influences, watching “When You Get Home” go viral, winning awards, his plans for the year and more!
Pro Country: You come from a musical family, with your mom having previously performed in a gospel group. How early in your life did you realize that you had musical aspirations yourself and that it was something you wanted to pursue?
Cole Goodwin: I have always been infatuated with music, whether it be listening to it, watching old videos of legends or just thinking about it and humming or whistling a random melody. Back in middle school before I started playing guitar, I would spend hours on YouTube watching old videos of country music legends, and I don’t think there is a video of Hank Williams Jr. on the internet that I haven’t already seen at some point. I had always dreamed of being an “artist” one day, but it was sometime in high school that I really began to dream about it and have these aspirations. I think around sophomore year of college was when I began to play my own gigs and began to really work on honing my writing and playing.
PC: Who were some of the earliest artists you remember hearing that had an impact on you and your sound?
CG: Hank Williams Jr. and Charlie Daniels will always be at the top of that list, but I vividly remember riding back and forth to baseball tournaments in my dad’s truck listening to the early Eric Church, Jason Aldean and Justin Moore records. I have always loved the old stuff, but those three guys are hard to beat as far as 2000s country music goes.
PC: You released your debut EP, Soon Enough, at the end of March last year. What emotions were you feeling as you were releasing music for the first time and introducing yourself to the country music world?
CG: I was very nervous, but very excited for people to finally hear what I was hearing in my head when I wrote them. All five of those songs were some of my best work at the time, and I was proud of them.
PC: You posted a performance of your new single, “When You Get Home,” on TikTok in December of 2023, and that video has since earned well over 400,000 views and over 20,000 likes. How encouraging was the response to the song, and what do you think it was about the song that allowed it to have that life?
CG: I was truly blown away by the response from people on social media. It was sort of my first “woah” moment as far as original music goes, and it opened a lot of doors for me, and is still opening doors for me now that it is out. It really inspired me to keep feeding that flame that seemed to be sparking, and it was refreshing to see such a positive response to a traditional-sounding song.
PC: You co-wrote “When You Get Home” with Will Moseley. Can you take us in the room and talk about how the song came together?
CG: We actually didn’t mean to write that song that day. I went over to hang out at an AirBnB that some friends were staying at in Nashville that week, and I had another song that was close to finished. Will and I finished that song and were just hanging out while the rest of the people got ready for dinner. One of the ladies there said something that sparked the comment “just go on out, I’ll be here when you get back,” and Will and I immediately looked at each other with wide eyes. After they all left for dinner, we sat on the front porch and had the entire song written in about twenty-five minutes. I think we both knew we had something pretty cool once we listened back to the worktape.
PC: In just a few weeks since its release, “When You Get Home” is your most-streamed song on Spotify. What has it been like to see the response out of the gate to the song and to see it keep growing?
CG: It has been awesome and eye-opening to see this song do what it has done. I have never been a numbers guy, and I try not to think about the numbers as much as just making music, but seeing the support carry on over the course of the three months it took to get the song out was really special to me. I can’t thank those folks enough for staying patient and letting me take my time to get something that I felt did the song justice.
PC: You’ve been voted to several great distinctions in Savannah, including Best Country Artist two years in a row, Best Singer/Songwriter and Best Concert. What do distinctions and recognition from within your home state mean to you at this stage in your career?
CG: It arguably means more than anything else at this point in my journey. Nobody has your back like your own people, and seeing such overwhelming support from my own hometown has been inspiring to me. I truly wouldn’t be where I am without them showing up night after night back when I was playing three to four local shows every week.
PC: You’ve recently been posting performances of unreleased original songs on social media. What information, if any, can you give about what will follow “When You Get Home”? What can listeners expect to hear?
CG: I can say that we have a song coming out on June 14 called “What Dad Did.” It’s a song that I wrote for my dad, and it is possibly my favorite song I’ve ever written, and is definitely the most sentimental song I’ve ever written. It is a stripped down acoustic song with just me and my guitar. No click track to keep me in time, no overdubs, just me playing a song I wrote, just like my dad prefers to hear me. After that, we’ve got a lot of stuff in the vault that I am sorting through and deciding on as far as release dates, and a lot of new stuff that still hasn’t even been recorded yet. I’m really excited to get them out.
PC: Now that “When You Get Home” has been released, what do you have planned for the rest of 2024?
CG: The rest of 2024 is going to be focused on new music and playing shows. Lately I have been writing more than I ever have and have been a part of some of my favorite songs yet. I can’t wait to bring them to life and to take them on the road for everybody to hear live. Be on the lookout on all my social media accounts for updates on shows and new music!
*”When You Get Home” is featured on The Best of Pro Country playlist*
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