When Armidale teenager Charlie Fittler attended the Academy of Country Music in Tamworth 12 months ago, he got the chance to write with Travis Collins.
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Now the O'Connor Catholic College student has released the song they wrote - This Guitar Can't Drink A Beer - as a single.
"I walked in with Travis, and he is a lyrical genius, and I just showed him a concept of what I was thinking and we just kept on going with it. He's really good to work with," Fittler said about the seven-times Golden Guitar winner.
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The single dropped this week, and is the first release for the 16-year-old.
Fittler recorded the song after winning the chance to go into producer Simon Johnson's Hillbilly Hut studio on the Central Coast.
"We got in contact with Travis, got the song and sent it off to Simon," Fittler said.
The song will soon be available on CD, but is already out on digital. In the meantime, the year 10 student is juggling his fledgling music career with school work.
"We do have to take a few days off school - mainly Fridays - to be at a gig for setting up and sound check, that sort of thing. That's a little bit hard.
"Then I've got lessons, and things we have to juggle, but usually it's been fairly easy, but it will probably get harder soon," he said, looking ahead to his senior years at high school.
"I'm trying to push the music as much as I can at the moment, because I don't want to leave school and then think 'what am I going to do now'."