Oliver Anthony punches nation’s elites hard
The new country musician doesn’t want to be tied to either political party
(Photo creditsL The Oliver Anthony photo is from Draven Rife and the Jeffrey Epstein photo is the NYS Sex Offender Registry mugshot.)
If you don’t know about Oliver Anthony’s meteoric rise to fame, it’s time to understand how this young man took over American music in August.
The 31 year-old from Farmville, VA had the video of his song “Rich Men North of Richmond” taped on his property. The song took off like a rocket after attention from podcasters Joe Rogan and Matt Walsh, country singer John Rich and others.
RadioWV found Anthony, whose real name is Chris Lunsford, performing the song in a video and gave it attention on social media Aug. 8. The country-folk song quickly gained traction as it resonated with millions of Americans and climbed multiple charts.
Deadline magazine reported:
Oliver Anthony’s viral hit ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ debuts at No. 1 on the next Billboard Hot 100 singles tally, marking a first for (the) chart in the process. It’s the first time that an artist with no prior chart history has turned the trick since the Hot 100 began in 1958. The politically charged track, which already has topped the Apple, Spotify and iTunes charts, will lead the Hot 100 dated August 26.
When the first GOP presidential debate occurred on Fox News two weeks later, Fox News’s Martha MacCallum asked the debate's first question about the song.
The song “Rich Men North of Richmond '' contains some profanities, which is my biggest complaint about it. However, the song is an anthem for the times in which we live, expressing angst and alienation of countless Americans from the forces of government, the media, or anything connected to Washington, D.C.
The lyrics could strike some as disconnected random thoughts from someone who is a novice singer and songwriter. However, that would be a mistake.
Most reporting on the song has focused on two things: the low wages that are taxed too much and Anthomy’s lyrics on welfare. Consider the following: “I’ve been sellin’ my soul, workin’ all day / Overtime hours for b******* pay / So I can sit out here and waste my life away / Drag back home and drown my troubles away.”
And later in the song: “‘Cause your dollar ain’t s*** and it’s taxed to no end / ‘Cause of rich men north of Richmond.”
Anthony also sings: “Lord, we got folks in the street, ain’t got nothin’ to eat / And the obese milkin’ welfare / God, if you’re 5 foot 3 and you’re 300 pounds / Taxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge rounds.”
Some Republicans have attempted to claim Anthony as their own (another mistake) while countless progressives disregard Anthony as a “racist.”
I’m exhausted by the left’s trite “racist” charge. It is intellectually lazy because they swing the accusation as a billy club to prevent people from having a voice or expressing their opinion. If you’re going to accuse someone of racism, which is a serious accusation, you had better produce some compelling and overwhelming evidence. Otherwise, you need to sit down and be quiet.
Biography reported Chris Anthony Lunsford’s stage name, Oliver Anthony, is a tribute to his grandfather and ancestors who lived in Appalachia. Anthony dropped out of high school, earned his GED, worked in some North Carolina manufacturing plants when he fractured his skull when he fell on the job in 2013. He went back home to Virginia and worked as an industrial salesman since 2014. He has struggled with mental health and alcohol and lives in a camper.
The song’s title, “Rich Men North of Richmond” is an obvious punch swung at political leaders in Washington, D.C., which is about 100 miles north of Virginia’s capital.
Look at this “Rich Men” lyric:
Livin’ in the new world
With an old soul
These rich men north of Richmond
Lord knows they all just wanna have total control
Wanna know what you think, wanna know what you do
And they don’t think you know, but I know that you do
Political elites are anyone in an elected or appointed position from the President, members of the House and Senate, and anyone serving in the federal bureaucracy with any department or agency that has any connection to Washington, D.C. It would include the media and business people who could get favors from political elites.
How do the political elites control Americans? The following is not a complete list:
Tax policy;
Deficit spending and national debt;
Regulations imposed on businesses;
Fed decisions that devalue U.S. currency or create inflation;
Covid policies that governors followed from the CDC, NIH, FDA, and elsewhere; and
Attach money to a desired policy outcome and if the policy isn’t followed, then money won’t flow to wherever from the feds.
While Anthony directs his harshest criticism at D.C., there is an often overlooked lyric that demands attention. It is: ‘I wish politicians would look out for miners / And not just minors on an island somewhere.”
This strikes the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, where people of influence in government, business, media, higher education, and elsewhere were connected to the child sex scandal that unfolded on a Caribbean island. Epstein died in jail before trial. His assistant Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison for her role with Epstein in a “conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, conspiracy to transport minors to participate in illegal sex acts, transporting a minor to participate in illegal sex acts, sex trafficking conspiracy, and sex trafficking of a minor.”
While famous people have been connected to Epstein, there has been no transparency with public information with specific names. Famous people receive cover for their misdeeds, treatment that average Americans would never see if they did the same thing.
Anthony simply sang what millions of Americans have been thinking.