It’s unprecedented the success that Oliver Anthony has had with his mega viral song “Rich Men North Of Richmond.”
The Farmville, Virginia resident went from zero to hero seemingly overnight a few weeks ago, when his performance of “Rich Men North Of Richmond” went massively viral as people from all walks of life connected with the strongly worded protest to our political system and its den of politicians in Washington D.C.
It was the first song to ever debut at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 by an artist who never previously charted, and maintained that top position for a second week despite Zach Bryan releasing an album.
His rise has also been huge for country music as a whole, as the genre has taken the top three spots on the Billboard Hot 100 for a second straight week.
And that’s just to name a few notable stats quickly…
Today, Oliver is the guest on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, after making a surprise appearance at The Comedy Mothership last night, a comedy club that Rogan opened recently in downtown Austin, Texas:
They of course talked about his viral fame and the success of “Rich Men,” with Joe joking that Oliver has been labeled both a right wing and left wing fanatic, to which Oliver replied:
“Both in like a week and a half! At least I know I’m doing something right.”
Touché…
They also went on to talk about some of the kickback he’s gotten about the nature of the message (the “fudge rounds” line in particular), and Oliver talked a little bit about his roots and where he comes from.
While not technically from Appalachia, Oliver (whose real name is Christopher Anthony Lunsford) was raised in the rural area of Farmville, Virginia in the Piedmont, and says that the problems so many experience in Appalachia are things that people from big cities and small towns all over the country alike also go through on a daily basis:
“It’s everywhere… that’s the sad thing is, it’s everywhere now. It’s funny People, right off the get go, I guess because it was RadioWV that posted the original video… I’ve never once advertised myself as being necessarily from the mountains.
My grandfather grew up in the western part of Virginia in the mountains, but I’m from Farmville, which is technically Piedmont. But even throughout rural Virginia, poverty is a big issue and drugs are a big issue, and it’s not just even in the rural areas.
You go into downtown Richmond, or any downtown anywhere for that matter… yeah, these problems exist everywhere now. Obviously they are, that’s why the song resonated the way it did.”
It’s the sad truth that so many Americans understand all too well, and Joe added that he believes its resonated so deeply simply because “people are tired of being fucked with”:
“People are tired of being fucked with, and it seems like people in power are always fucking with people.
And I think it’s a natural inclination that human beings have, and I think the founding fathers of this country recognized that when they set up our government.
They set up our government to protect it against tyrany, and they did it by having all these different branches of government, and they’re all coordinated and it’s a lot of stff that keeps people from just running it the way they wanna run it like a King.”
Oliver continued, saying:
“I’m certainly no professional historian, but my understanding is that the federal government was never intended to be the size that it is today.
We’re very top heavy in the way we’re structured, you know? Our federal government is enormous and out of control and almost impossible to manage…”
He went on to explain that he’s been waiting for an opportunity like this, a long-form interview, to be able to explain everything and get a chance to dig into the meaning behind the song, and the conversation lasted right around two and a half hours.
It’s the first official, sit down interview Oliver has done since the song blew up, and obviously a conversation that needs to be had right now that so many people understand and want to talk about beyond just the Joe Rogan podcast.
Oliver has reportedly turned down an insane number of offers, some being in the $8 million dollar range, so accepting the invite from Joe Rogan really does go a long way in showing what type of media he wants to be around and the type of support he’s comfortable receiving.
And regardless of whether or not you agree with everything he said in the lyrics of “Rich Men,” it’s virtually impossible to argue that it hasn’t resonated so deeply, in the United States and beyond, with so many hard-working people for a reason.
The whole episode with Oliver is up now exclusively on Spotify, and this particular conversation starts around the 25-minute mark.
“Rich Men North Of Richmond”
