In the song, Anthony grieves the separation between the average person in America and the class of “rich men north of Richmond” who “want to have total control” of decisions in the country.
Up-and-coming Virginia country singer Oliver Anthony has gone viral for the song, "Rich Men North of Richmond," which he recently released. A clip of the song on Twitter has racked up over 2.3 million views in the last two days. John Rich has even offered to help him produce a record.
Rich Men North of Richmond centers around a theme of the struggling working-class American being pushed around by the political class living in and around Washington, DC.
"I've been selling my soul, working all day, overtime hours, for bullsh*t pay," the song starts. "So, I can sit out here and waste my life away. Drag back home and drown my troubles away."
https://twitter.com/AintGottaDollar/status/1689826860971008000?s=20
In the song, Anthony seems to grieve the separation that has come between the average day person in America and the class of "rich men north of Richmond" who "want to have total control" of decisions in the country.
Taxes, the state of the welfare state, and the death of young men in the country are all topics that the song touches on. Because of taxes and inflation, Anthony sings, "Your dollar ain't sh*t, and it's taxed to no end, 'cause of rich men north of Richmond."
The YouTube video online has also gone viral, being viewed more than 1.3 million times.
Anthony revealed to Jason Howerton, who founded the High Value Dad newspaper, that prior to writing the song he had struggled with mental health and alcoholism.
https://twitter.com/jason_howerton/status/1689836688057761792?s=20
Anthony found himself in despair and broke down. Although he is not religious, Anthony then promised God that he would come sober if God helped him follow his dream.
https://twitter.com/jason_howerton/status/1689836691958411265?s=20
After 30 days of being sober, Anthony wrote and then recorded the new hit song at the studio. He now has an offer from John Rich who shared the clip of the song on his Twitter profile.
https://twitter.com/johnrich/status/1689771083241500672?s=20
Anthony lives in Farmville, Virginia with three dogs and plot of land where plans to raise livestock. The largest influence on his music is Hank Williams Jr.
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