Paul Godwin is an American composer, musician, and writer based in Nevada City, California. A native of New Jersey, he became a central figure in the Bay Area music scene, co-founding the national band The Sippy Cups and earning recognition as Best Composer by the Bay Area Critics Circle for his work with Berkeley Repertory Theatre and his score for the West Coast premiere of Tony Kushner’s "Homebody/Kabul", translating dramatic narrative into evocative musical landscapes. As both composer and writer, Godwin blends ambient, progressive, and experimental music with memoir and lyrical meditation. His work often engages memory, grief, and loss creating immersive spaces where personal experience transforms into shared, contemplative expression.

Godwin earned a B.A. in Music Production and  Engineering from Berklee College of Music (1985) and pursued graduate studies in creative writing at Warren Wilson College, developing his integrated practice of music and literary expression. Since 1996 he has recorded and performed internationally as Dogon with Venezuelan Miguel Noya, called by WIRED Magazine “the best of progressive ambient” and releasing nine albums on NEWdOG Records. Dogon performed one of the first trans-continental concerts using early Internet application “CoolTalk” in 1997 when Godwin performed from San Francisco with Noya before a live audience in Caracas. Later that year, Godwin created Cyber-Voce, an around-the-world vocal attunement at the Digital Be-In using OnLive Traveler.   In 1999, with Tony Parisi, Mark Pesce and a cast and crew of 100, Godwin was music director for DJ Christ Superstar, a one-performance remixed rock opera at Burning Man for an audience of thousands. 

In 2000 Paul founded Music Together of San Francisco bringing early childhood music to thousands of Bay Area families, now in its 25th year. His delight in sharing musical spaces with humans of all ages brought joy and creativity to a generation of children. This work led to training in Orff Music and teaching classes in Elementary Schools, forming Middle School Glee Clubs and teaching theatre in Bay Area high schools. 

In 2016 with Tony Parisi, Mark Verlander, Ariane Cap, Guy Gershoni and others, Paul formed Bluebird, a David Bowie Tribute project which performed at PRIDE SF that year of David's transition to his next arena.  In 2019, Paul gathered European and South American musicians in Berlin to form Eternal Return. With Porcupine Tree bassist Colin Edwin (UK), Estonian guitar icon Robert Jürjendal and Venezuelans Miguel Noya and Miguel Toro, they created “Once Only” - a milestone of progressive ambient expression that garnered critical acclaim worldwide.