The song heard ’round the world…
Oliver Anthony’s mega-viral hit, “Rich Men North Of Richmond” has captured the hearts and minds of people across the the country, catapulting the song to the top of the iTunes charts.
It also caught the attention of well-known podcaster, comedian and UFC commentator, Joe Rogan.
Joe has continuously praised traditional country artists, such as Tyler Childers, Zach Bryan, Colter Wall, Whiskey Myers and more, and it seems as though Oliver Anthony has found his way onto Joe’s playlist:
“I love this song. You can’t fake authentic, and Oliver Anthony has it in abundance.”
His podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, has also recently featured Luke Combs, Jelly Roll, and Zach Bryan.
And of course, it didn’t take long for the internet to draw political lines around the song, choose sides and make the conversation about them… however, Oliver himself took to YouTube to introduce himself and explain the meaning behind the song.
He also says that he falls “dead center” politically:
“It touches on my time in Western North Carolina working in the factory, it talks about some people who live north of Richmond, Virginia, who I’m sure you’re very aware of.
It touches on human trafficking and the atrocities that… I’ll say this, I sit pretty dead center down the aisle on politics and always have.
I remember as a kid, the Conservatives wanting war and me not understanding that, and I remember a lot of the controversies when the Left took office, and it seems like both sides serve the same master and that master is not someone of any good to the people of this country.
But I think one of the worst things a human can do is take advantage of a child. I can’t begin to conceptualize what has to happen to someone in order for them to think that’s okay.
And I think I drew the line on being quiet when I started to see that becoming normalized and I’ll leave that at that.”
He continues that last part of the song tackles mental health and suicide, which combined with addiction, continues to plague society in rural parts of the country:
“The last part of the song, it touches on suicide rates and 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, the lack of skilled labor and the suicide rates… those aren’t problems, those are symptoms of a bigger, universal problem.
A lot of people know that, it’s common sense, but we don’t talk about it enough.
Maybe that is the problem today, we just talk enough common sense anymore.”
I have a feeling we’ll see a lot more of Oliver Anthony.
Check out some of his other songs too:
“Ain’t Gotta Dollar”
“Rich Man’s Gold”
“Feelin’ Purdy Good”
