Just over a month ago, no one knew the name Oliver Anthony.
Now he’s arguably the most talked about artist in country music…
It all started when an unassuming video of Anthony performing his song “Rich Men North of Richmond,” surrounded by his dogs on his land in Farmville, Virginia, went mega viral, spreading through social media like wildfire.
There’s a number of reasons people can point to for the song’s virality, but ultimately Anthony’s raw talent and the conviction with which he conveyed his message resonated with people on an unprecedented scale.
The notion that this particular video would go viral, at least to the extent that it has, couldn’t have been predicted by anyone. But it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the video was posted by Radio WV.
For anybody not familiar, RadioWV was founded by Draven Riffe and John Price in 2019, and with the motto “Real Music. Real People. Real Culture.” they created a platform to share original music from the Appalachian region and beyond.
Champions of the underrated and underrepresented, RadioWV has been a catalyst in the careers of some of the genre’s most promising up and coming artists, and has had a huge impact on the rise of Appalachian artists within the national country music landscape.
While none have reached the heights of Oliver Anthony’s “Rich Men North of Richmond,” RadioWV has released several viral videos in the past, garnering several million views on videos of artists who were unknown at the time.
Anthony, with his newfound fame, has lauded RadioWV for their work in promoting great music, shouting them out, along with other semi-viral RadioWV artists Logan Halstead and Nolan Taylor on The Joe Rogan Experience a few weeks ago.
So, without further ado, check out a handful of the most viral songs and artists that have been posted by RadioWV over the years, and be on the lookout for more content from them in the future.
You may just find your next favorite artist…
Charles Wesley Godwin – “All Again”
Cole Chaney – “Ill Will Creek”
Drayton Farley – “Pitchin’ Fits”
Jake Kohn – “Frostbite”
Logan Halstead – “Dark Black Coal”
Nolan Taylor – “68”
And of course, the aforementioned video that has made Oliver Anthony a superstar and brought some much deserved attention to RadioWV.
Don’t feel like you stop here, there are tons of other videos of spectacular artists playing their original music on RadioWV.
