Turnpike Troubadours, Charles Wesley Godwin Perform Fantastic Country Music at Little Rock Amphitheater

by Julian Spivey

The Turnpike Troubadours returned to Little Rock, Ark. on Saturday, August 17 for a show at the First Security Amphitheater near the Arkansas River downtown.
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First Security Amphitheater is one of a few venues the band has played at in Little Rock over the years, and it packed in a massive ground despite the sweltering heat and the venue being nothing special. You know how you’ll hear “there’s not a bad seat in the house” for some concert venues? Well, that isn’t the First Security Amphitheater, where due to not having much, if any, decline in the seating and the lawn seating not being on much of a decline either, there’s not a great view to be had other than maybe the first few rows of the pit area and the first row of the seated area.

Despite these negativities, it’s always a special night of music when the Turnpike Troubadours are around, especially when such a talented opener as Charles Wesley Godwin is on the bill with them. Tyler Halverson was also on the bill, but unfamiliar with his music, I couldn’t make out much of what was being sung. It sounded fine, though.

The Turnpike Troubadours have been one of my favorite bands since I was first introduced to their music via a local radio station about a dozen years ago, and they’ve been one of my most-seen bands in concert since then, even with a hiatus that lasted multiple years. I’ve seen them grow in popularity exponentially from the magic of sharing them with like-minded musical brethren in a bar venue from right in front of a stage to now getting to share them with thousands in arenas and amphitheaters. That magic that comes with a small venue close to the stage isn’t quite the same with bigger crowds, but it’s nice to know more and more people have fallen in love with the music you love.

If there’s one knock about the Troubadours, and maybe it’s only the case because I’ve seen them live so many times, they don’t change up their sets or play new stuff. The band’s most recent album, 2023’s A Cat in the Rain, their first since 2017, is terrific, but the group only played two tracks from it on Saturday night, the show opening “Mean Old Sun” and “Brought Me,” later on.

The band probably played around 25 songs on Saturday, all terrific, but I didn’t hear a single new live debut.

Granted, this isn’t as much of a con for me as it might come off in print; when Turnpike is doing their “greatest hits,” every single song will be one I’ll be shouting along with the entire show.

The band’s de facto debut (their actual debut is out of print), 2010’s Diamonds & Gasoline, will probably always be my favorite album of theirs and any band in general. It continues to be their most-played album live nearly a decade and a half after its release. The boys played eight of the album’s 12 tracks, and it was a surprise they didn’t play more, opting to leave out “Shreveport,” which they almost always do in concert.

Among the Diamonds & Gasoline songs on Saturday night were crowd-favorites “7&7,” “Kansas City Southern,” “Whole Damn Town” and “Every Girl,” all of which may be top-10 Turnpike songs for me.

One of the most significant crowd responses during the evening came when the band performed “Good Lord Lorrie” from its 2012 release Goodbye Normal Street. The song has some Arkansas references and ranks as a surefire top-five Turnpike song for me.

The crowd also really enjoyed “Before the Devil Knows We’re Dead” and “Gin, Smoke, Lies” off Goodbye Normal Street.

One of my favorite moments during the set was just how awesome the band’s cover of Old ‘97s’ “Doreen” sounded back-to-back in the set with “The Mercury,” both recorded for the group’s self-titled 2015 album. The show was generally loud, but this was the most raucous portion of the set.

Toward the end of the set, Turnpike brought Godwin out on the stage with them, now dressed in street clothes, to join the band on “Long Hot Summer Day,” a John Hartford cover from Diamonds & Gasoline that has probably always been the one song most synonymous with the group, despite being one of the few non-written songs ever recorded by the band. You could tell Godwin was having a blast sharing the stage with some guys who were undoubtedly among his musical heroes.

The band would finish with “The Housefire” and “Pay No Rent,” both from 2017’s A Long Way from Your Heart, before realizing they had time for one more and gave us a bit of a throwback with “Easton & Main,” a song originally from that now out of print debut that they re-cut for their self-titled album.

An evening with the Turnpike Troubadours is always going to ensure you of two things: the fantastic songwriting of vocalist Evan Felker and the outstanding musicianship of a talented group of guys in Kyle Nix on fiddle, Ryan Engleman on guitar, R.C. Edwards on bass, Gabriel Pearson on drums and Hank Early on various instruments. 

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It’s been an exciting year for me as a concertgoer seeing Charles Wesley Godwin. He’s a guy I’d been looking forward to seeing since his 2019 debut Seneca blew me away with the songs “Hardwood Floors” and “Seneca Creek.” I’d had tickets to see him twice around 2020-2021, but both shows were canceled, one due to Covid and the other never announced why. As of this year's beginning I still had not seen him despite two more impressive albums: 2021’s How the Mighty Fall and last year’s excellent Family Ties.
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I was thrilled when he opened for Jason Isbell and the Turnpike Troubadours when I went to Oklahoma City in January to see their co-headlining show at the Paycom Center, giving the crowd a fantastic little 30-minute showcase of what he could do.

When he did a headliner set a few months later at The Hall in Little Rock, it was a show I knew I couldn’t pass up. Let me tell you, he is the kind of musician who is at the point where he should be nothing but a headliner. He’s that good as a performer and songwriter, and his band, The Allegheny High, is incredible.

Seeing him open for Turnpike again on Saturday night was terrific, but unfortunately, his set was not as long as I’d hoped – he may have gotten 45 minutes. Honestly, dropping Halverson and giving Godwin more stage time may have been a smart move by the show’s organizers.

But what Godwin did give the crowd on Saturday, one I fear wasn’t giving him the amount of attention I wish it would have with idle conversation and standing in long beer lines the priority for many, was a showing of what he’s capable of with utterly fantastic songs like “All Again,” “Family Ties” and “Another Leaf” from Family Ties and “Hardwood Floors.”

Having seen Godwin three times in 2024, he’s become the first artist I’ve ever seen more than twice in one calendar year, and you can bet I’ll be looking forward to seeing him again in the future, too.