Vince Leigh’s Single Review: Fifteen of Fame by Charlie Powling
By Vince Leigh (Ex drummer of Pseudo Echo, Tina Arena and John Farnham) of Australian Radio Promotion for Sheldon Ang Media
A sustained guitar chord followed by some blues-tinged phrases leads us into the new single for Charlie Powling. Fifteen Of Fame, with its delineated pop culture reference, veers from country rock to folk to a fusion of both effortlessly and convincingly. As is the typical stylistic concern of Charlie Powling, the lyric is the focal point and takes its cues from reality. In this case, we are led through an experience involving Charlie’s struggle with ‘Interferon’, an anti-viral treatment for hepatitis C.
The lyric is direct, with the mention of the medication dropped into the second verse and used as part of the arc and dynamic of the narrative. Musically we are treated to a raw-sounding blend of instrumentation, played against a laidback, semi-rollicking kind of groove, with the drums providing the occasional burst of energy infusion and Charlie’s vocal performance naturally attuned to it. The track also features lead guitarist James (Gravy) Brown, a young artist and member of the Black Pepper Band—Charlie’s accompanying outfit—and it was the song that introduced him into the band as their specialist young gun guitarist, later moving to the drums when they lost their original drummer Danny Thomas to cancer.
As the introduction to the song promises, the record is dappled with Brown’s guitar work, where it finds spaces to enhance the lyric, as though reflecting all the nuances Charlie’s words and vocals can offer. In some cases, this method of adding guitar parts where perhaps they are not needed could become intrusive, but on Fifteen Of Fame, they seem to add a kind of lustre that spruces up the overall sound. With past support on multiple ABC platforms, including ABC LOCAL in both the NT and QLD Super Radio Network, Charlie Powling’s latest release will no doubt find the right home and have the opportunity to endear potential new fans to his brand of Australian folk-rock music.
