Still Rockin' It - Cheryl Lee

What has Charlie Owen been up to lately? OR Tracing the songs, friendships, and farewells that shaped his guitar across decades

• That Radio Chick - Cheryl Lee

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Join Cheryl Lee - That Radio Chick on STILL ROCKIN' IT for news, reviews, music and interviews with some of our favourite Australian musicians

A dobro lick that ended up in a feature film. A blue-tinted photo above the bar at the Gov. A midnight residency that turned into decades of collaborations. Charlie Owen joins us for a warm, unscripted tour through the songs, friendships, and stages that shaped his life in Australian music.

We trade the mythology for the moments: meeting Don Walker in the small hours, saying yes to Tex Perkins for Triple J’s Unplugged, and learning how a Working Class Ringos ballad could hush an arena full of Chisel fans. Charlie opens up about his long run with the Divinyls and the bond with Chrissy Amphlett, the quiet pride of being named among Australia’s best guitarists, and the surprise of discovering that Midnight Rain with Lewis Tillett topped Rolling Stone critics’ list years after the fact. The thread is always the same—collaboration, taste, and putting the song first.

We get into the set he’s bringing to South Australia: a solo, guitar-forward celebration with dobro, electric, acoustic, and a light touch of keys—no loops, no samplers. He explains why he sings now, how certain tracks like Spencer P. Jones’s The New Day of the Dead feel eerily current, and why some songs are too heavy to carry on stage. It’s a candid look at legacy, grief, and the craft of making a room go quiet without turning up the volume. If you care about Australian rock history, storytelling through strings, and the way music keeps our people close, this conversation will stay with you.

Join us, then share the song that changed you. If you enjoy the show, follow, rate, and leave a review—then pass it to a friend who knows every line to a Tex, Don & Charlie record.

What has Charlie Owen been up to lately?  Let's find out!

Get out when you can, support local music and I'll see you down the front!!

Visit: ThatRadioChick.com.au

Cheryl Lee:

That radio chick you're all we need. Welcome to the Still Rockin It podcast. Today, Charles Lothian Lloyd Owen. Thanks for coming.

Charlie Owen:

That's all right, Cheryl. Lothian. That's just my that's from my mother's side, and Lloyd is from my father's side.

Cheryl Lee:

Right.

Charlie Owen:

Boy, I'm a bit teased for that.

Cheryl Lee:

I was going to ask because it's not very often you come across a name that you've actually never heard of. What nationality is that from?

Charlie Owen:

Lothian. I I think there's a village called Lothian in the UK somewhere.

Cheryl Lee:

And is that where your heritage is from?

Charlie Owen:

Yeah, I was born in in England.

Cheryl Lee:

Ah, right.

Charlie Owen:

It came out in three years old or something.

Cheryl Lee:

Having a quickie today on the Zoom because you're coming to our fabulous town on the weekend. Two great dates, one down at Port Elliot on the Saturday at the Julian Ray Wine Room and one at the Weed Chief here in town on the Sunday, the 5th. So we're looking forward to seeing you. And we're going to be lucky enough to be interviewing you for Rider TV's Legend series. But we thought we'd just catch up quickly this morning because we've got loads and loads of questions to ask.

Charlie Owen:

It's good to be on the show too, because you know, the more the merrier at these sort of gigs. And you know, I just need to get it out there to all the folks. I have a long history in music, and I'm sure a lot of people know at least some of the things that I've done over my life, and that's what the show is all about, really.

Cheryl Lee:

The uh list of your credits is longer than both my arms put together. Everybody's wanted to play with you over the years, haven't they?

Charlie Owen:

Yes, it's been a wonderful thing, really. I've played with um just about everybody, you know, who's influential in Australian music, really. I'm not a session musician by any stretch of the imagination. I've been a guest and a collaborator with all the people I've worked with. It's been a great ride, really, you know. From Rob Younger from Radio Birdman to independent stars like Joel Silbisher from God and Lewis Tillett from Sydney, Chrissy Amplett to Paul Cowley, Tex Perkins, Don Walker. I did a stint with Jimmy Barnes a few years ago. It's all been great fun. Wonderful people, actually, I must say. All of them.

Cheryl Lee:

We've seen you up on the stage many a time with all of those people that you said. But being a good South Australian girl, music fan, you have to be a Cole Chisel and Jimmy Barnes fan. So it came to my attention the first time, I reckon, with Text Don and Charlie, Don Walker, of course, being Australia's greatest songwriter.

Charlie Owen:

Well, there's Paul too.

Cheryl Lee:

Paul Kelly. Yeah, but it's not much in it, is there?

Charlie Owen:

No, they're both fantastic. Yeah, Don and I met many, many, many years ago, long before Texton and Charlie. I was playing with um Lewis Tillard in Sydney, and we used to play this place from 12 till 4 in the morning. Don lived down the road, and he used to come up and sort of watch this band called Paris Green. That's how I got to meet Don. He uh was doing a tour, one of his first solo tours, and said, Would I like to play guitar? And we became fast friends, and then I played on a record for him and did a couple of tours, and then when the idea of Tex and Don playing together for Triple J's Unplugged series, Tex and I had met over in Oslo when I was playing with the New Christs, and he was in the Beasts of Bourbon, and we did a double headliner for two nights, and that's when I first met Tex. And Tex goes, Oh, Don, okay, well, I'll do this if we get Charlie along as well, because he knew I'd been playing with Don. And that's how it all started, really. You know, a singer, a songwriter, and a musician.

Cheryl Lee:

And you just became his fabulous boy band.

Charlie Owen:

Yes. Well, there's a couple of girls in there.

Cheryl Lee:

You have been a producer as well. Producer The Plunderers, Louis Tillett, Tex Perkins, Pelle.

Charlie Owen:

Eikinger.

Cheryl Lee:

Eikinger, yeah. Bit of a session player with some people. The cruel Sea, Tex Perkins, of course, and another one of our South Australian favorites, Steve Prestwich, the dearly missed Steve Prestwich.

Charlie Owen:

Yes, yeah. Well, Steve, that came about because Don really loved a band I was in called The Working Class Ringos, Morris Frolling and the Working Class Ringos. Don talked uh Chisel into giving us the support slot at the tennis centre in Melbourne. Now, you've got to remember the working class ringos, sort of like double bass, dobros, the shuffle, snare drum, and piano. It was a pretty hokey sort of bluegrass folk outfit. And here we are playing in front of like 20,000 people, people jeering us. And but Maurice Crawley was such a great songwriter. We decided to do this really tragic, heartbreaking song as the last song. It's called Let Nobody Be Your Daddy When I'm Gone. And I swear we got the whole place silent, almost tearful. And the guys from Chisel were standing um side of stage. Normally, it's like cheers all, cheers all at this point. And we had the whole place silent. As we walked off, they were just shaking their heads, going, How did you do that? That was that's how I met Steve. Steve wanted to do a uh solo album, and he got us to be the band.

Cheryl Lee:

And also on your um Tool Belt, Another Notch, was playing on the Divinyls album and touring that album.

Charlie Owen:

I um played with the Divinyls from 1989 right through to the end. So I was the lot apart from Mark and Chrissy, I was the longest standing member of that band.

Cheryl Lee:

Wow.

Charlie Owen:

Chrissy and I were great, great friends actually. She's godmother to my kids. And we were yeah.

Cheryl Lee:

Yeah, we miss her as well.

Charlie Owen:

We do too, very much.

Cheryl Lee:

Yeah. This is a bit of a feather in your cap 2012, Australian Guitar Magazine listed in the top 40 of all time Australia's best guitarists. Congratulations.

Charlie Owen:

Yeah. Well, I don't know about this, but a nice bit of recognition. There's a few things that happened, you know, through your career and that you sort of miss, and then every now and then people bring it up. Like uh Lewis Tillett and I made a record, just the two of us, back in 1996, Midnight Rain, with the wonderful producer Tony Cohen. Both Lewis and Tony Cohen have passed away now, but and it got voted Rolling Stone Critics number one album of the year in Rolling Stone. Wow. I never knew about that until about a year ago when someone brought it up to me. I thought, oh, really?

unknown:

Wow.

Cheryl Lee:

Awesome. The listeners might like to know is what they can expect from the two shows here in this beautiful town this coming weekend.

Charlie Owen:

I run through my catalogue of all the people I've collaborated with. It sort of started when they all started to pass away, actually. And it was a bit sad. And then I thought, this is more of a celebration of these people. So I got through my career and do songs that I've written with Lewis, with Tex, with all sorts of people, living and passed away, and tell the stories of how the songs came to be, you know, some anecdotes and heartfelt moments and some funny moments. And some through my career, I mainly wanted to focus on the music because that's how it got into playing music. And I never really sang much. But then, particularly when Lewis passed away, and Morris from the Ringos that I'd done a lot of writing with too, thought some of these songs may never get played again. So I thought, Gobert, I'm gonna sing. I've loved it. And Don always used to say to me, Charlie, you should sing, you know. And I thought, no, I just want to play guitar. But now I thought, actually, I want to tell these stories, and if I'm gonna tell the stories, I may as well sing them. It's a rollicking fun ride.

Cheryl Lee:

Who's on stage with you?

Charlie Owen:

There's a dobro, an electric guitar, an acoustic guitar, a synthesizer, a keyboard, no looping pedals, no sampler. My wife Kylie will play a little bit of keyboards, but she's only allowed to use one finger at a time. And I might get Max up to play with me a little bit, but it basically it's a solo show. Lots of instruments and lots of my guitar playing over the years.

Cheryl Lee:

What's your favorite song to play at the moment? Or is that like asking you to choose between your children?

Charlie Owen:

What's my favorite song to play at the moment? A song written by Spencer P. Jones called The New Day of the Dead, which is off with the Beast Suburban album Little Animals. It's a very prophetic song. And he passed away before all this political mayhem around the world, but somehow this song touches on it. And that's how songs are a really important part of our world, how prophetic they are and how they can mean a lot to a lot of people.

Cheryl Lee:

Being one of your favourites or be your favourite, you'll be playing that for a song.

Charlie Owen:

I will. The other one I really love to play is, of course, I Won't Do to You What I Done, which was the first song off the text on Charlie album, a first single. When I bought my Dobro, the first lick I ever played on it, sitting in the shop, was the opening lick for this song. Oh, I better buy this guitar. I played this one and it uh ended up on a movie called Australian Rules, which a good friend of ours, Mick Harvey, did the music for, and it ended up on that movie Australian Rules, which is a tremendous movie.

Cheryl Lee:

Can I put in a request?

Charlie Owen:

Uh you can.

Cheryl Lee:

I love Cold Grey Saturday.

Charlie Owen:

Sitting in a bar.

Cheryl Lee:

Yeah, sitting in a bar.

Charlie Owen:

Well, that one would be pretty hard to do because the bass player from Textona Charlie, Shane Walsh, passed away one Friday night and uh Tex Don & Charlie played that at his funeral.

Cheryl Lee:

Oh.

Charlie Owen:

And I don't think I'd be able to do that without falling apart.

Cheryl Lee:

I love that song, and it's gonna have an extra meaning for me now.

Charlie Owen:

Yeah, yeah. Well, when we were playing it, uh the Sacred Heart mission in Sir Kilda, it was very tough.

Cheryl Lee:

Yeah, I bet. Like you say, music is so personal, it touches you right down inside, doesn't it?

Charlie Owen:

Yeah, indeed.

Cheryl Lee:

Or I'll let you off.

Charlie Owen:

All right, Cheryl. Well, really, really nice to talk to you.

Cheryl Lee:

Thank you so much. I'm looking forward to asking you all my other questions on the tally when we get together to shoot our legend series interview. Have a great day.

Charlie Owen:

Just to let everybody know, they're early shows.

Cheryl Lee:

Good point. 5 30 at Port Elliot in the Joinery Wine Room. We South Australians love our wine. Four o'clock.

Charlie Owen:

So I think the the Wheat Chief, I think doors are at 2 or something like that, 2.30 or something. But yeah, I'll be on about four.

Cheryl Lee:

Tickets are available from Charlie's website, www.charlieOwen.au or probably in the door. Looking forward to it. Looking forward to the advanced. Yeah, me too.

Charlie Owen:

I can't wait. I love coming to Adelaide. I mean, I've been coming here for many years. And if you go to the Gov, which I've played there many, many, many times, and for years and years there's been a photo above the bar amongst Miles Davis, Charlie Mingus, Paul Kelly, and there's a photo of someone with long hair playing the Dobro above the bar. It's a blue photograph, and that's me and before the Gov got renovated playing there.

Cheryl Lee:

Well, you've really made it if you've got your photo on the wall at the Gov.

Charlie Owen:

Exactly.

Cheryl Lee:

Thank you for all of the music over all of the years. And it's not over yet.

Charlie Owen:

No, indeed not. I look forward to seeing everybody on the weekend.

Cheryl Lee:

Bye for now, Charlie.

Charlie Owen:

Thank you. See you then.

Cheryl Lee:

Bye. You're with Cheryl Lee, that radio chick. Thank you so much for joining me on the Still Rocking It podcast. Hope to catch you again next time. Get out when you can, support Aussie music, and I'll see you down the front.