#469 – Oliver Anthony: Country Music, Blue-Collar America, Fame, Money, and Pain
Episode publishedPodcast: Lex Fridman PodcastLex Fridman Podcast
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The following is a conversation with Oliver Anthony, singer songwriter from Virginia, who first gained worldwide fame with his viral hit, rich men north of Richmond. He became a voice from many who are voiceless, with his songs speaking to the struggle of the working class in modern American life. His legal name is Christopher Anthony Lunsford. Oliver Anthony was his grandfather's name. And so Chris used this name as a dedication to his grandfather and to 19 Thirties Appalachia, where his grandfather was born and raised. Dirt floors, seven kids, hard times, as Chris says. He's happy to be call
you were there. I didn't I'd have been doing it too if you were out there. Like, oh, that's, like, screaming.
No, man. He was, this big dude on a keyboard, just everything. Sweaty, long hair. You could tell, like, he was there in his own little world. I love the courage of that, of just giving it everything. I don't think he wants to be famous. I don't think he wants anything in life except to be there and to play, like, his heart out. That's why I love open mics. Like, some people still aspire to be famous when they play open mics, but some people, maybe they've given up, or maybe they never wanted to be famous. They're just there for the pure artistry of it. So And you said you started out playing o
yeah. Real quick before I forget too. A great example of a of a guy who had that same mindset and was able to maintain it really well is this mandolin player named Johnny Stats in West Virginia. To me, he's one of the best, and he's won all these awards and stuff, and he still works for UPS full time. And, like, he could go out and tour with it, play mandolin for anybody he wanted to. But he but, man, when you meet Johnny, like, you can tell he's just got this, this joy in him that I don't think he would have if he but as far as me with the open mics, yeah, it was just it was a lot of them wer
Yeah. It's back when you could smoke in bars. There's a whole vibe to it. People smoking, drinking. And, yeah, definitely, you know, bombing in a place like that when the audience is is there's, like, five people, and they're bored.
Yeah. There was one like that. It was in Matoaka. It wasn't that far from where I lived. The place is gone now, but, it was about as big as the room we're in here, if that you know? Like, the the ceiling tiles were yellow from where everybody had smoked in it since the beginning of time. And but, like, yeah, that was my little spot, those little, like, the spots. You
did covers? What'd you play? What was your go to?
Back then, it was like, I don't know, Fishing in the Dark, Nitty Gritty Band, or, like, any of those old Hank like, Hank Junior songs, like, any of those bar type David Allen Coe, like, You Never Call Me by My Name, any of that kinda stuff. And I haven't even played any of those in forever now, but that was any of those ones where you get people singing along and stuff, that's what I'd always try to do. You know?
Yeah. That song you performed, Take Me Home, Country Road, and How's That Go? West Virginia. Yeah. It's a good song.
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