Breakout country star Oliver Anthony is accustomed to playing music for just a handful of people. After reading Sunday from the book of Psalms about the fates of the righteous and the wicked, he
played his heart out before several thousand people at Morris Farm in Currituck County, North Carolina, many of whom he later spent time getting to know.
Following his free show in North Carolina and a life-changing week that saw him not only trend internationally with a video for “Rich Men North of Richmond” but land four tracks in the iTunes top 10, Anthony took some time to express gratitude and reflect upon the opportunity before him.
In a video posted to YouTube Monday entitled “Moving Forward,” Anthony noted he was driving back home after having a “crazy time in Currituck” — a county where he emphasized a good time can be had, “whether it’s 30 people or it’s 12 thousand people.”
Anthony thanked Morris Farm and the thousands who came out to support him, including those who had flown in or driven in from various parts of the country.
He indicated that he “signed and took pictures a good four hours after the show,” but clarified that it was far more than glad-handing.
“It wasn’t like people just came up and shook my hand. They came up and told me about the battles that they’ve been dealing with, depression and suicide and money. You know, those are real problems,” said Anthony.
Having observed firsthand the impact of his song “Rich Men North of Richmond,” Anthony stressed it’s “not like it’s some kind of masterpiece I created.”
Rather, he intimated that the song is not so much a vehicle for meaning but a portal into the meaning and emotion welled up within his audience, evidently wanting for such an outlet.
Following up on his self-deprecating comments, Anthony then implored his fans to think beyond him and on ways to “maintain this energy, this positivity, this unity.”
His serendipitous encounter with a strong sense of community, which was all but forged overnight, led Anthony to consider the corrosive forces that have made such social engagements uncommon, stating, “I’m no Dr. Phil, but I just feel that in this moment in time, when so many people are feeling the same frustrations, it would be wonderful to capitalize on that and just use that positive energy to help other people in your life. Maybe people that are different from you, people that you wouldn’t normally connect with.”
“I can tell you from my experience and the jobs I’ve had and all the people I’ve talked to, everyone has a really interesting story if you just give them the time to talk,” Anthony added.
These engagements are critical, he suggested, given that “we’re all so disconnected from each other.”
The Virginian concluded by reiterating his hope that the energy resultant from his “anomaly of a song” could be use to cultivate new bonds of fellowship and community.
While Anthony’s stated aim is to help mend America’s increasingly frayed social fabric, the establishment media continues to paint his efforts in a negative light.
The A.V. Club’s Emma Keates intimated in her Monday
hit piece that rather than being a populist anthem that calls out a detached and antipathetic elite, Anthony’s top song was actually a Dixie critique of the “everyone in the North” full of “regressive and gross stereotypes.”
Rolling Stone, which has had costly
difficulties with honest reporting in recent years, trivialized Anthony’s music and success, dwelling on his previous struggles with alcohol and attributing the popularity of his music with conservatives to “Reagan-era talking points.”
In its
report on Anthony’s rise to fame, the Independent focused on criticisms by nameless social media users, who branded the Virginian “offensive” and “fatphobic.”
Moving Forwardyoutu.be
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