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Issue 954 August 5, 2004 
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(Nashville, July 23, 2004) --- Brian Rothschild, Executive Director of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, announced the winner of the Maxell Song of the Year 2003 at the NAMM Summer Session in Nashville. Amen, written by Arthur Godfrey, the Grand Prize Winner in the Folk category won the coveted annual award. Godfrey was the Contests 2001 Grand Prize Winner for his song Simple Man, in the Folk category. Described as an Americana performer with a hard urban twist, Godfrey appeals to the Folk and Alternative-Country music listeners. Originally from Brookline, Massachusetts, where he was a mailman in the Boston area, Arthur lived in southern California until very recently when he moved to Nashville so he could work more closely with other writers. His music has received airplay across the U.S. and Europe, and he tours regularly and has opened for Patty Loveless, Paul Thorn, and many others, and attracted the attention of numerous stars, most notably Sean Penn. |
• • •
SEAN'S CROWD July 2, 2004 -- IT pays to have Sean Penn in your corner. The Oscar- winning star saw singer/ songwriter Arthur Godfrey in Memphis two years ago, then tracked him down and hosted a celebrity-packed private party at the West Bank Café here where Godfrey appeared. Godfrey, the son of a Boston fireman, spent 20 years working for the U.S. Postal Service before he was discovered. He performed a sold-out showcase at the West Bank the other night for Penn and such friends as Tim Robbins , Catherine Kenner , Al Pacino , magician David Blaine , Amy Sacco , Infinity Broadcasting CEO John Sykes and Victoria's Secret model Frederique Van Der Wal . |
• • •
 SINGER HAS STAR ON HIS SIDE Author(s): CAROL BEGGY & MARK SHANAHAN Date: August 6, 2004 Page: C2 Section: Living PENN PAL THE SON OF A BROOKLINE FIREFIGHTER, 49-YEAR-OLD ARTHUR GODFREY SAYS ``LIFE JUST KIND OF HAPPENED'' TO HIM. FOR 20 YEARS, HE WORKED FOR THE POSTAL SERVICE, BIDING HIS TIME WHILE HE RAISED THREE DAUGHTERS. A few years ago, Godfrey, who played in a band at Brookline High, picked up a guitar and started writing music again. "Urban Americana songs," he calls his downcast ditties about bars, prostitutes, families, and fights. ...his big break may have come at a dive in Memphis. "Sean Penn walked in," said Godfrey. "My wife called later and said, `Sean Penn's looking for you.' " The two have since become friends, with the A-list actor inviting Godfrey to all of his movie sets. (The singer performed at the wrap party for "21 Grams" and just spent seven weeks in New York while Penn shot "The Interpreter.") "He trusts me," said Godfrey. "I've been to his kids' ballet classes, to their lacrosse games." For his part, Penn's using his considerable influence to help Godfrey get a record deal. In recent months, he's scheduled two showcase gigs at Manhattan's West Bank Cafe and invited his famous friends to attend. At a show in May, Catherine Keener, Tim Robbins, Al Pacino, Sean Lennon, Amy Sacco, David Blaine, and model Frederique Van Der Wal were in the audience. "It's surreal," said Godfrey. "It's actually embarrassing, but it's cool." |
• • •
Performing Songwriter Magazine
July/August 2002 Issue
• • •
Beck/Smith Hollywood Exclusive
The former postal worker toiled away in the obscurity of bars and coffeehouses in and around Boston for more than a decade until the iconoclastic actor "discovered" him at a Memphis dive two years ago. Since then, Godfrey (named after, but no relation to the '40-'50s radio and TV personality) has hung out with Penn on the sets of four movies, filmed a cameo in Penn's upcoming "The Assassination of Richard Nixon" and performed with his band at the wrap party for "21 Grams." "I'm the son of a fireman from a poor neighborhood called Whiskey Point," says Godfrey, 48. "And I believe Sean really relates with blue-collar, working-class people who drag their ass out of bed every day and go to work in real-life America. That's what my songs are all about." |
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June 23, 2004 ARTHUR GODFREY WINS OVER GLITTERATI WITH HONEST SOULFUL MUSIC As packed nightclubs and A-list celebrity fans can attest, Arthur Godfrey is music's new working class hero. The blue-collar son of a Boston fireman returns to New York for a June 30 showcase at the Laurie Beechman Theater beneath the West Bank Café, where he generated an amazing buzz last month. In May, Godfrey got a Page 6 notice in the New York Post after playing a celebrity-packed private party at the West Bank hosted by the Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn. Luminaries in attendance included Al Pacino, Chris Noth, Catherine Keener, Sean Lennon, Elizabeth Jagger and many others. Penn tracked Godfrey down after catching one of his sets at a Memphis dive two years before, and has been one of his biggest supporters ever since. Penn flew Godfrey and band out to perform at the wrap up party for the cult cinema hit "21 Grams." Godfrey is a familiar face on the set these days, and even has a brief cameo in Penn's forthcoming film about Richard Nixon. Several of Godfrey's songs from his two independent releases have captured coveted awards. In 2001, "Simple Man" won the Grand Prize in the Folk Category of the prestigious John Lennon Songwriting Contest. He repeated as a Grand Prize Winner two years later, with the song "Amen. In the Billboard Songwriting contest of 2001, his song "Danielle" took second prize. He's currently in the studio working on a third record, and the recent media attention has drawn the interest of several major record labels. While spending 20 years working for the U.S. Postal Service in towns across the country, Godfrey never forgot about growing up on the wrong side of thetracks on the outskirts of Boston. He collected stories that would blossom into vivid character sketches of the shattered and downtrodden, as well as the blue collar everyday heroes of American life. Despite all the recent press and attention, Godfrey himself remains down to earth. "I just want to make a working man's living by playing music-case closed." |
• • •
May 24, 2004 Issue # FAMOUS FRIENDS WHEN Sean Penn gets behind a musician, he backs it up with star power. Penn, an early booster of foxy folkie Jewel , hosted a party at the West Bank Club on West 42nd Street the other night for his newest find, Arthur Godfrey. Penn and Godfrey were joined by Al Pacino, Sean Lennon, Catherine Keener and Chris Noth , just to name a few. Penn, who flew Godfrey's band to Albuquerque to play the wrap party for his film "21 Grams" last summer, discovered Godfrey at a club in Memphis. Penn accompanied Godfrey to Nashville for the Folk Alliance Conference in 2003 and the two became fast friends. © copyright 2004 The New York Post |
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"Singer/Songwriter Arthur Godfrey is carving out a record of achievement in his own right...his songs are the edgy and true vignettes of his life experiences". "A mix of Folk and Blues from a passionate soul...the stuff that a generation brought up on Bruce Springsteen can tune into today...could be the next great undiscovered Singer/Songwriter". "His songs cut through the Americana-Blues genre with a knife so sharp it draws blood". |
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