IN MEMORIAM ❍ PAUL GODWIN

With the heaviest of hearts, we announce the unexpected passing of our beloved, Paul Godwin.

Paul Russell Godwin passed away on October 1, 2025, at the age of 64 in Nevada City, California, his place of residence.

Paul Godwin spent most of his professional career bringing people together in music. A remarkable musician, vocalist, and composer, Paul’s deep love for song spanned genres and generations. Known for his soulful interpretations, he brought an intuitive, heartfelt presence to every performance. Together with Ameera, his wife of 34 years, they nurtured networks of creative relationships wherever they lived. In the last 15 years, Paul has been profoundly committed to service, recovery and community building. Though new to the Nevada City community, Paul was quickly embraced for his talent, warmth, and gift for sparking creative collaboration.

Early Life, Marriage & Family

Born in Summit, New Jersey, on April 17, 1961, Paul began expressing his musical talent as a young child. Raised in Millburn, New Jersey, he attended South Mountain School, Millburn Junior High School, and Millburn High School, graduating in 1979. He played leading roles in high school and local theater, including Man of La Mancha and Bye-Bye Birdie. Paul’s talents followed him into adulthood. He first studied Theatre and Interpretation at Northwestern University, and interned with the Minneapolis Children's Theatre and with Meredith Monk in Boston. A 1981 graduate of Berklee College of Music’s first class in Music Production and Engineering, Paul went on to create music for TV commercials, including at North 40 Music, documentary films, dance, and theatre in New York City and the San Francisco/Bay Area.

Paul met his wife, Amee ( “Ameera”) Evans Godwin, artist, filmmaker, and educator, in New York in 1985. They married in Woodstock, New York, in 1991, and lived together in New York City for nearly a decade before moving to San Francisco in 1994. They have lived in California over the last thirty years in the rural towns of Montara, Placerville, and Nevada City, to be immersed in nature. Paul was a dedicated father to their son, Bodhi Godwin, aged 25, a talented musician himself, who is presently studying music technology in Sydney, Australia. With his playful and generous spirit, Paul brought abundant energy to encourage young people’s participation in music.

California Life & Work

From his first moments in the Bay Area, Paul participated in building “a tribe”, expanding on the friendships made in “Digerati” and Burning Man circles of the mid-90s. Paul co-founded The Sippy Cups, a nationally touring family rock band that reimagined classic rock for all ages, performing at House of Blues coast-to-coast, Lollapalooza, and SF Giants Park from 2004 to 2010. He served as musical director for Coastal Rep Kids Theatre in Half Moon Bay, California, from 2012 to 2016 and composed two original musicals for children. This phase of his professional career aligned with his role as a parent and his love for helping kids thrive--in his words, “to become musical human beings.”

As a music educator, Paul expressed his passion for awakening the innate skills of children by blending musical modeling with pure enjoyment. He founded Music Together® of San Francisco in 2001 and was Executive Director of the program for twenty years, facilitating classes for hundreds of families. Paul taught music and theatre to all ages, from newborns to senior citizens.

With such innovative projects as Dogon, The Sippy Cups, Eternal Return, and Main Street Collective, Paul Godwin brought experimental, ambient, and rock music to audiences around the world.

Paul and Venezuelan composer Miguel Noya formed the ambient electronic duo DOGON in 1981 and have been creating, recording, and performing together ever since. In 1996, Paul founded NEWdOG Records, releasing albums of progressive ambient music over the next four decades. In 2003, Paul composed an original score for the West Coast premiere of Tony Kushner’s Homebody/Kabul for Berkeley Repertory Theatre and was honored with Theatre Bay Area’s Best Composer Award. From 2016-2019, Dogon brought their music to Europe, including Sweden, Finland, Italy, and, with Ameera’s media projections, they performed in Estonia, Latvia, and Portugal.

Expanding circles

Paul’s energy and vision were instrumental in building a renewed climate for musical and cultural experiences in Placerville, post-COVID, from 2021 to 2024 wie. He brought this energy to Nevada City, performing concerts entitled eople in the Placerville region, particularly at the Green Room Social Club, and at Wakamatsu Farm in partnership with American River Conservancy. Their public gatherings include Earth Dayta (2022), FIRE/LAND (2023), and RIPE AREA Festivals (2024 and 2025).

Paul’s energy and vision were instrumental in building a renewed climate for musical and cultural experiences in Placerville, post-COVID, from 2021 to 2024 with the formation of the tribute band, Main Street Collective. He brought this energy to Nevada City, performing the live concerts, Grief & Gratitude (2024) and Longing & Belonging (2025).

Over the past two years, Paul turned some of his ever-curious attention to field recording and sound installations, including underwater recordings of the American River and Cosumnes River watersheds, entitled Music for 33 Drainpipes (2024), and Sound Garden (2025). Most recently, Myrtle Tree Arts presented the premiere of their original musical, The Botanist - A Plant-Based Song Cycle on September 21, 2025. This collaborative artistic work aims to bring communities into a deeper relationship with land and each other.

Recently, Paul performed a heartfelt Tribute to Bob Dylan at the Flower Piano 10-year anniversary event in San Francisco Botanical Garden, Golden Gate Park, with violinist Robin Mayforth. Just in the last two months, Paul had been working on new music with Miguel Noya (Dogon) and Mark Verlander (The Sippy Cups), and with numerous Nevada City-based musicians, including Anni McCann, Elena Rayo, and Jay Tausig. The concert Paul was scheduled to headline with them, 70s Songbook Singalong, will be performed in his honor on Sunday, November 9, 2025, at the Nevada Theatre (https//paulemerymusic.com/the-70s-songbook/).

Interests & IMpacts

Paul loved nature and the outdoors. Ever the elemental spirit, he was at home in the forest and was never so happy and carefree as when riding his e-bike along woodland trails around Nevada City. Known for straying off a well-marked path, he was a well-intentioned trespasser on the lookout for the perfect meadow to take an impromptu nap. Ever a seeker and explorer, Paul’s Jewish cultural and spiritual ties, Buddhist meditation, Qi Gong, Five Rhythms Dance, and Recovery practices ran deep and formed the core of his spiritual devotion and search for truth, peace, health, and relationships.

Paul will be missed by the thousands he touched with his musical compositions, performances, teaching, exuberantly inclusive collaboration, and love. Paul and Ameera’s creative collaboration flourished for decades, only to be cut tragically short by Paul's sudden passing. Ameera and their talented musical partners will continue to create and perform music and media that will be inspired by Paul and dedicated to his memory.

Family Relations

Paul Godwin is survived by his wife, Amee (Ameera) Evans Godwin; son, Bodhi Godwin; sisters, Nora Johnson and Carol Saft; nephews/nieces, Robert Johnson, Sara Johnson, Ben Saft, and Mia Godwin, daughter of Paul’s brother, Todd Godwin; Marian Godwin, widow of Todd and sister-in-law; and Ameera’s sister, Martha Evans. Paul was preceded in death by his father, Robert Lewis Godwin; mother, Martha (Godwin) Gale; and his beloved brother, Todd Godwin.

Memorial Gathering

A private Remembrance service was held with family and friends on November 8, 2025 in Nevada City, California (view Paul's Remembrance at this link).

2026 promises additional events in his honor.