"Rich Men North of Richmond" Singer Brushes Off $8 Million Offer.

Appalachian ex-factory worker says "we have lost our way from God and have let false idols distract us and divide us."

Appalachian singer and songwriter, Oliver Anthony has struck a chord with his plaintive ballad, “Rich Men North of Richmond,” which remains No. 1 on iTunes. The song caused the incurable weenies at Rolling Stone to suffer a major fit of cognitive dissonance.

Here was a real country boy with nothing but a $650 guitar (Gretsch G9220 Bobtail Round-neck Mahogany Body Resonator) and microphone, with no recording studio, singing a song that instantly resonated with millions of people. The single’s release and stunning reception may be one of the most extraordinary events in American recording industry history. In response, Rolling Stone senior editor and country columnist, Joseph Hudak, reported:

Right-Wing Influencers Just Found Their Favorite New Country Song

In “Rich Men North of Richmond,” a singing farmer in Virginia blasts high taxes and obese people on welfare, and even appears to allude to Jeffrey Epstein.

Right-wing influencers are losing their minds over a new country song that just appeared on streaming services today. …

Apparently like so many people who work in America’s Fascist-Corporatist entertainment industry—an industry that imposed the strictest conceivable COVID-19 vaccine mandates and ferociously punished any artist who didn’t comply with them— Mr. Hudak is determined to remain tone-deaf to all heartfelt expressions by millions of working class Americans who have felt ever-more left behind and snubbed since the 2008 Financial Crisis.

Oliver Anthony—whose real name is Christopher Anthony Lunsford— not only sings the truth of how he feels, he writes with great candor about himself and the world as he sees it. As he recently wrote in a long Facebook post:

People in the music industry give me blank stares when I brush off 8 million dollar offers. I don't want 6 tour buses, 15 tractor trailers and a jet. I don't want to play stadium shows, I don't want to be in the spotlight. I wrote the music I wrote because I was suffering with mental health and depression. These songs have connected with millions of people on such a deep level because they're being sung by someone feeling the words in the very moment they were being sung. No editing, no agent, no bullshit. Just some idiot and his guitar. The style of music that we should have never gotten away from in the first place.

My legal name is Christopher Anthony Lunsford. My grandfather was Oliver Anthony, and "Oliver Anthony Music" is a dedication not only to him, but 1930's Appalachia where he was born and raised. Dirt floors, seven kids, hard times. At this point, I'll gladly go by Oliver because everyone knows me as such. But my friends and family still call me Chris. You can decide for yourself, either is fine.

In 2010, I dropped out of high school at age 17. I have a GED from Spruce Pine, NC. I worked multiple plant jobs in Western NC, my last being at the paper mill in McDowell county. I worked 3rd shift, 6 days a week for $14.50 an hour in a living hell. In 2013, I had a bad fall at work and fractured my skull. It forced me to move back home to Virginia. Due to complications from the injury, it took me 6 months or so before I could work again.

From 2014 until just a few days ago, I've worked outside sales in the industrial manufacturing world. My job has taken me all over Virginia and into the Carolinas, getting to know tens of thousands of other blue collar workers on job sites and in factories. Ive spent all day, everyday, for the last 10 years hearing the same story. People are SO damn tired of being neglected, divided and manipulated.

In 2019, I paid $97,500 for the property and still owe about $60,000 on it. I am living in a 27' camper with a tarp on the roof that I got off of craigslist for $750.

There's nothing special about me. I'm not a good musician, I'm not a very good person. I've spent the last 5 years struggling with mental health and using alcohol to drown it. I am sad to see the world in the state it's in, with everyone fighting with each other. I have spent many nights feeling hopeless, that the greatest country on Earth is quickly fading away.

That being said, I HATE the way the Internet has divided all of us. The Internet is a parasite, that infects the minds of humans and has their way with them. Hours wasted, goals forgotten, loved ones sitting in houses with each other distracted all day by technology made by the hands of other poor souls in sweat shops in a foreign land.

When is enough, enough? When are we going to fight for what is right again? MILLIONS have died protecting the liberties we have. Freedom of speech is such a precious gift. Never in world history has the world had the freedom it currently does. Don't let them take it away from you. 

Just like those once wandering in the desert, we have lost our way from God and have let false idols distract us and divide us. It's a damn shame.