Oliver Anthony
Christopher Anthony Lunsford[3] (born 1991/1992),[4] known professionally as Oliver Anthony Music (or simply Oliver Anthony), is an American country-folk singer-songwriter.[5] In August 2023, he released the single "Rich Men North of Richmond" independently, which debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100 and made Lunsford the first artist to achieve this without any prior charting history in any form.[6]
Oliver Anthony
Christopher Anthony Lunsford
1991 or 1992 (age 31–32)
Farmville, Virginia, U.S.[1]
Singer-songwriter
- Vocals
- guitar
- Resonator guitar
2021–present[2]
Career[edit]
Career beginnings[edit]
A singer of the country-folk genre,[7] Lunsford adopted his grandfather's name "Oliver Anthony" as his stage name in homage to the Depression era in which he lived.[8]
Anthony started writing music in 2021, and since 2022 has released music as Oliver Anthony Music.[9] Winston Marshall compared Anthony's performance on his song "Doggonit" —a song which contrasts consumption of insect protein and self-driving cars with Anthony's rural abode—[10] to that of a character from Hillbilly Elegy.[11] His music has been influenced by Hank Williams.[1][12]
He said he "started getting messages from people saying how much the music was helping them with their struggles in their lives", and that that gave him a purpose. "It made me feel like I wasn't just wasting my time."[13][14] Anthony had been struggling with mental health issues and alcohol abuse for five years,[15] and according to Twitter user Jason Howerton who had interviewed him, in July 2023 Anthony broke down and promised God that he would get sober if he helped him follow his dream. Around 30 days later, West Virginia music channel radiowv asked him to record a song for its YouTube music channel, and the result was "Rich Men North of Richmond".[16][17][18][9][19][20]
Anthony performed a free show at a farmers market in Barco, North Carolina, on August 13, which Anthony opened with the reading of verses from Psalm 37 about evildoers.[21] He was joined by surprise guest Jamey Johnson.[22] That same month, six other Anthony songs ranked in the iTunes top 20, with five of the others in the top 10, including "I've Got to Get Sober",[23] which reached No. 3 on the Apple platform.[24]
"Aint Gotta Dollar", a song about self-reliance without spending money,[25] and ranked Anthony's fourth best by Taste of Country,[26] reached number 1 on the Viral 50 list in Spotify[27] and No. 2 on iTunes.[28] Anthony said that members of the public had reached out to tell him that the song had connected with them powerfully.[29]
In a Facebook post on August 17, Anthony described what he believes to be the reasons for his popularity: "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."[3]
Anthony's second documented public concert, in Moyock, North Carolina, opened in what Billboard described as "a unique fashion", with him reading a passage from the Bible.[30]
Firsts[edit]
In addition to being the first songwriter to debut at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 with no prior chart history in any form, Anthony is the first male songwriter to chart 13 songs simultaneously in the top 50 Digital Song Sales while still alive—Prince and Michael Jackson exceeded that count only following their deaths.[45]
Industry observers noted these milestones were reached despite virtually no radio play;[46] nonetheless, when country music stations such as WGH-FM in Virginia and KBAY in California started playing Anthony, he debuted a few days later at No. 45 on the Country Airplay list.[47][48]
Personal life[edit]
Anthony was born and raised in the Piedmont area of Virginia and currently resides in Farmville, Virginia.[40][51] As of August 2023, Anthony lived with his wife and two children in a $750 camper on an off-the-grid 90-acre property, where he said he intends to raise livestock.[3][6][49][52][53]
Anthony dropped out of high school in 2010[54] at the age of 17, and later secured a General Educational Development diploma;[55] he went on to work in industrial jobs in North Carolina and Virginia.[3] At a paper mill in North Carolina, he had a work accident in 2013 which fractured his skull, leaving him unable to work for half a year.[56][57] He worked in outside sales in manufacturing, visiting factories and job sites, from 2014 through 2023, he wrote in a Facebook post.[58][3]
Anthony said in a video in August 2023 that he is nonpartisan: "I sit pretty dead center down the aisle on politics and always have."[7][59] Later that month, Anthony said he was bothered by others who "wrap politics" around his work.[60] "I see the right trying to characterize me as one of their own, and I see the left trying to discredit me, I guess in retaliation. That shit's got to stop," he said.[61]