Virginia nation singer Oliver Anthony, a former manufacturing facility employee, goes viral due to his tune “Rich Men North of Richmond,” a scathing story of greed and injustice that’s quickly being embraced and promoted by right-wing pundits.
“I’ve been selling my soul, working all day/ Overtime hours for bullsh– pay,” he sings within the tune’s opening traces. A video, posted by radiowv, reveals Anthony providing an acoustic efficiency, funneling the ache, frustration and angst of the working class into traces that rage in opposition to grasping wealthy males. The tune takes on excessive taxes, abuse of welfare, and egocentric politicians, with lyrics which have resonated mightily with music listeners. Elsewhere, he sings, (*5*)
In a YouTube video posted Aug. 7, Anthony shared that the efficiency video of “Rich Men North of Richmond” was his “first song to get out there that has been recorded on a real microphone and a real camera, and not just on my cell phone.” He additionally famous that he started writing his personal music in earnest in 2021.
“Things were not good for a lot of people and in some respects I was one of those people,” Anthony stated. “I had wasted a lot of nights getting high and getting drunk and I had sort of gotten to a point in my life where even things that I did care about didn’t mean anything to me anymore. This is certainly no Dr. Phil episode, but I found an outlet in this music. I started uploading a couple of songs.”
He uploaded “Ain’t Gotta Dollar” final yr and notes he’s since put out roughly a dozen songs he recorded on his cellular phone, together with “90 Some Chevy” and “Living in the New World.”
Of “Rich Men North of Richmond,” he stated it facilities on the issues of the working class, noting, “The universal thing I see is no matter how much effort they put into whatever it is they’re doing, they can’t quite get ahead because the dollar’s not worth enough, they are being over-taxed. … I want to be a voice for those people. And not just them, but humans in general.” He went on so as to add, “As long as you’re above the dirt, you’ve got a fightin’ chance.”
Anthony’s grizzly, acoustic sound and easy songwriting type is already drawing stylistic comparisons to artists together with Zach Bryan and Tyler Childers.
Here, 5 issues to find out about Anthony and “Rich Men North of Richmond”:
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A Performance Video That’s Become a Sensation
A efficiency video of “Rich Men North of Richmond,” posted by radiowv, has surpassed 2 million views, simply two days after its launch on YouTube. “Rich Men From North Richmond” has additionally surged to No. 1 on the iTunes Country chart, outpacing the previous chart chief, Jason Aldean’s controversial monitor “Try That in a Small Town.”
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He Has Plans to Start a Farm
Anthony lives in Farmville, Virginia, simply over an hour exterior of Richmond. According to the YouTube channel radiowv, Oliver lives on a bit of land along with his three canines and has plans to show the property of land right into a small farm with livestock. He additionally counts Hank Williams Jr. as an inspiration.
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There’s More Where That Came From
Though “Rich Men” is on the pinnacle of the iTunes chart, it’s not the one tune from Oliver that’s gaining traction. His beforehand launched songs together with “Ain’t Gotta Dollar,” “I’ve Got to Get Sober” and “I Want to Go Home” are additionally on the iTunes Country chart.
Anthony additionally hinted that there’s a full mission on the way in which, saying, “There’ll be a lot of positive songs, too, and there already are some — ”90-Some Chevy,’ ‘Ain’t Gotta Dollar’ and ‘Between You and Me’ — there’ll be extra songs like that.”
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He Says He’s “Dead Center” Politically
In a video, Anthony mentioned his now-viral tune, saying, “It touches base on human trafficking and the atrocities that… I’ll say this, I sit fairly lifeless heart down the aisle on politics and all the time have. I keep in mind as a child the conservatives wanting struggle and me not understanding that, and I keep in mind loads of the controversies when the left took workplace, and it looks as if each side serve the identical grasp and that grasp just isn’t somebody of any good to the individuals of this nation.
“But I feel one of the worst issues a human can do is take benefit of a baby. I can’t start to conceptualize what has to occur to somebody to ensure that them to suppose that’s okay. I feel I drew the road on being quiet once I began to see that turning into normalized and I’ll depart that at that.
“The last part of the song, it touches on suicide rates and really on mental health and depression. There’s no reason why young men and women in this country should be committing suicide. There’s obviously a problem. People talk about epidemics in this country — homelessness and drug use, lack of skilled labor and the suicide rates. Those aren’t problems, those are symptoms of a bigger, universal problem. … It’s common sense, but we don’t talk about it enough.”
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A John Rich Connection?
One social media user, entrepreneur Jason Howerton, claimed to have spoken with Oliver, and famous that nation music singer-songwriter and outspoken conservative John Rich has provided to supply Oliver’s album. Billboard has confirmed that Rich has made the provide to supply the album.
The video can be gaining traction by way of varied media personalities, together with Rich, Joe Rogan and Matt Walsh, in addition to Barstool Sports and conservative outlet Breitbart posting it on social media.
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