Who Is Cole Goodwin? The Story Behind His Journey to Country Music

Full name – Cole Goodwin
Birthdate – 11/20/2000
Hometown – Pooler, Georgia
Current city – Pooler, Georgia
Musical influences – Vince Gill, Hank Williams Jr., Mark Chestnut, George Strait, Waylon Jennings

Label – Big Machine Records

Current Project – “Girlfriend’s Got A Boyfriend” (as of date of article: 7/28/2025)

Country music is full of incredible artists, who as humble as they are talented. Cole Goodwin is one of those artists. We chatted with the singer-songwriter about his journey in country music so far and his brand new music. Keep reading to learn more!

“I’m from Pooler, Georgia, right outside of Savannah, and I actually got a late start to the whole playing music thing, but I’ve always been infatuated with music, and I was always around it. My mom sang in a band back in the day, and still gigs around town,” shared Goodwin. “She’s been a real big influence, and I’ve always been obsessed with music, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever […] I thought guys like Hank Jr., Merle Haggard, and Waylon Jennings were the coolest people on earth. I would go home and spend hours and hours after school just watching old show footage of them back in the day.”

Goodwin recalls having a ton of music at his fingertips, finding inspiration in different sub-genres of country music. “ I loved everything from Bob Segar to AC/DC to Merle Haggard to Gary Stewart to Hank Jr. You name it, everything,” shared the singer. “It was a bunch of southern rock, classic country, outlaw country, southern gospel, that kind of stuff is what I cut my teeth on. But my heart’s always been in the classic country thing.”

Despite loving music, Goodwin spent his earlier childhood focused on baseball; however, he eventually started to dabble with the guitar. “That was kind of the extent of music for me back in the day because I played travel baseball year round. That’s where I spent most of my time on the weekends, on the baseball fields. But once I got burnt out on baseball, and got to high-school, I figured out I could play guitar and go fishing on the weekends, and I quickly became a baseball fan instead of a baseball player.”

The Turning Point:

After graduating high-school, Goodwin attended Georgia Southern University to pursue a marketing degree. He also ended up really focusing on music too.

“I guess I started playing guitar about freshman year of high school, and then I dabbled in piano some,” began the singer “Then once I got to college, I really focused on becoming a songwriter, and I wrote a lot of songs by myself, and really tried to get better at that. It kind of all started snowballing and I started booking all these shows and playing the heck out of them. It turned into this. It’s been fun, but not that long. It’s been a short ride, but a really fun one. I’ve only been at it about four years so far.”

While at college, Goodwin often asked his parents if he could quit to pursue music; however, he’s glad that they ultimately said no. “There were multiple times I called Mom and Dad, and said I wanted to quit [college] and just try this music thing, but I’m so, so glad that they would not let me do that because I would have been swallowed up. […] I guess whenever we got to start playing shows, I took it more seriously.”

Slowly, but surely, and actually much quick than most, Goodwin started making a name for himself on the music scene, making connections along the way. “It kind of just turned into ‘wow people are starting to take this serious,’ and I needed to buckle up and be my best at it. Everything has kind of happened organically for me, as far as meeting people, which I love. […] It’s always been handshakes and word of mouth, which I’m a huge fan of.”

Recently, Goodwin officially signed with Big Machine Records, progressing his career even further!

Today:

Flash forward to today, Goodwin is cranking out music, and showing off his talent to fans everywhere. He is currently on tour with Luke Bryan and is continuously making waves with his music. When Goodwin and his team announced his signing, the singer put out a song called, “Girlfriend’s Got A Boyfriend,” which quickly became a fan-favorite.

“That one is a funny song obviously. I’m a really sarcastic person and a really goofy person, so it’s right in my personality. I wrote it with a buddy of mine Jack Hummel and another buddy of mine Connor McCutcheon. That’s the first song we wrote together. I had the idea a week or so before. I have twin little sisters, and one of them was talking to this fella back home, and he had posted a picture with another girl, and I made a joke in the car one day, and said “looks like so and so has a girlfriend, but it ain’t my sister.” So I took that Idea into the room, and we wrote it in an hour and a half. […] I immediately added it to our setlist, and we started playing it out a lot, and people were loving it.”

Goodwin also recently released another new song, that showcases his vocals in a whole different way. “Dust on the Dancefloor” is a heartbreakingly beautiful and honest country ballad that truly captures Goodwin’s talent in a new light. “I also wrote that one with Jack Hummel. It’s remained one of my favorites since we wrote it. I love a slow, country ballad,” shared the singer.

With more music to come, it’s clearly just the beginning for the rising artist. Stay tuned for what’s to come!

Connect:

To keep up with Cole Goodwin, follow him on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.

Cole Goodwin’s music is available everywhere you buy or stream music. Take a listen below and check out more new recently released tunes on our ‘New Country Music’ playlist. Be sure to give the playlist a follow for your weekly new country music fix.