Was There Ever Really Any Bad Blood Between Zach Bryan and Charles Wesley Godwin?

In a landscape where everyone and their dog seems to have some kind of beef with Zach Bryan, loyal Zacholytes will have been relieved to see Bryan giving a shout-out to his former go-to duet partner - and rumoured frenemy - Charles Wesley Godwin on X.

Despite confessing last Fall that “Twitter gets me in too much trouble” after yet another ill-fated stint on X, Zach Bryan is now back on the social media platform because - in his own, tongue-in-cheek words - “I missed ruining my life with tweets”.

In the early hours of this morning, during a light-hearted exchange with fans, Bryan responded to one user asking him for an example of a “bad band” by paying tribute to his former tour-mate, “I know @CharlesWesleyG’s band I know a good band”.

If the ‘Something in the Orange’ hitmaker had tweeted this back in 2022, when he and Charles Wesley Godwin were inseparable, his comment would barely be worth a second glance.

I know @CharlesWesleyG’s band I know a good band https://t.co/fNWnnWRK2w

— Zach Bryan (@zachlanebryan) August 6, 2025

In 2025, though, the status of Zach Bryan and Charles Wesley Godwin's friendship is a little more murky. The conjecture that something was wrong began when Bryan surprise-released his Boys of Faith EP on the same day as Wesley Godwin's long-awaited debut major label album, Family Ties, before claiming he didn't know his buddy was dropping on this date. This left fans suggesting that either Bryan knowingly stole the spotlight from the biggest day in his pal's career, or that he was just a bad friend for not knowing his record was dropping then.

There's no doubt that, given the overlap in the artists’ fanbase and Bryan's immense star-power, his decision to release Boys of Faith opposite Family Ties will have drawn streams away from Wesley Godwin's project, hampering his first-day figures.

Bryan was quick to defend himself against his detractors via X, “I did not know that Charles was dropping yesterday, he is an insanely close friend of mine and we do not talk music too often believe it or not...If I would have known I would have waited you internet heroes truly know how to die for a cause and jump to conclusions yeah”. He also shared a photo of Wesley Godwin's album with the caption, “STRIKE ME DOWN”, as well as sending out a rare mailer telling fans to stream the project.

It therefore seemed followers were making a mountain out of a molehill, and that Bryan was simply being a forgetful friend, rather than there being any malicious intent behind the release. A few months later, though, fans noticed that Wesley Godwin no longer followed his ‘Jamie’ collaborator on Instagram, and their on-stage appearances, interview shout-outs and social media interactions dried up.

Fast-forward to November 2024, with the fall-out from Zach Bryan and Brianna LaPaglia's break-out souring by the day. The latter commented on a TikTok that asked why Wesley Godwin had stopped following Bryan by hinting, “Ohhhhhh boy, the tea I have”.

LaPaglia never elaborated further on this, but her response certainly implies that Bryan and Wesley Godwin's friendship had taken a turn for the worse, despite joining forces on-stage a few months prior at Buckeye Country Superfest 2024 in Ohio.

Yet Bryan's shout-out today suggests there might be no bad blood after all - at least from his side of things. The duo have produced some unforgettable moments over the years, and we'd certainly love to see them resume their creative partnership.

Of course, Zach Bryan has his fair share of adversaries in the musical world. Earlier in the year, John Moreland and Drayton Farley shared times where the ‘Dawns’ singer-songwriter had made both them and their wives feel uncomfortable with his behaviour. More recently, Gavin Adcock and a host of other country artists blasted Bryan after he told a 14-year-old fan to “GOMD” (Get Off My D***), because they'd criticised the ‘I Remember Everything’ chart-topper for not taking the time to say hello after his second MetLife Stadium show in July. Back in 2024, LaPaglia also suggested Bryan had fallen out with another collaborator, Noah Kahan, after allegedly being too drunk to perform at the latter's colossal Fenway Park show, before Kahan helped him save face on socials.

Some fans have therefore assumed that any beef between Charles Wesley Godwin and Zach Bryan could have been related to the kind of actions he's been receiving flak for from other artists of late. But at the end of the day, we simply don't know, and can't really speculate on what LaPaglia was referring to in her cryptic comment.

Judging by how profusely Bryan apologised for releasing his EP on the same day as Wesley Godwin's album, and how he made such a concerted effort to promote the latter, we imagine this can't have been the bone of contention. Whatever went on, maybe it was blown out of proportion, or perhaps they've since made amends.

With Zach Bryan's list of musical foes continuing to stack up and his public perception less-than-ideal, while Charles Wesley Godwin's own momentum seems to have somewhat slowed, it definitely feels like a reunion would be mutually beneficial.

For more on Zach Bryan, see below: