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The pc culture police have fought tooth-and-nail to put a boot on Oliver Anthony’s neck and keep him from becoming a cultural force. They have OFFICIALLY failed.
The guy is already getting $8-Million dollar record contract deals. He’s not taking the bait because his soul is not for sale. It’s hard to look at such a man — especially when he’s coming from a very working class world — with anything but respect.
‘Living in the New World with an old soul’, indeed.
He knows who he is and he won’t trade his music for a quick buck. That kind of courage and integrity is a rare find in a world that commoditizes almost everything. That’s a big part of why his music has as much power to grip the soul of his audience as it does.
It’s not just some kind of an aw-shucks persona. He’s a genuine down-to-earth guy who has been honest about his own failures and struggles. He isn’t trying to sugar-coat it or dress it up for public consumption.
The public noticed. And they rewarded it. Big-time.
The singer-songwriter, billed as Oliver Anthony Music (his real name is Christopher Anthony Lunsford) scores his first two entries on the chart with “Rich Men North of Richmond,” which launches at No. 1, and “Aint Gotta Dollar” at No. 82.
[…]
Anthony is just the sixth artist to debut a first solo Hot 100 entry at No. 1, after Zayn (“Pillowtalk” in 2016 – his first solo single after leaving One Direction); Baauer (the viral “Harlem Shake” in 2013), Carrie Underwood (“Inside Your Heaven” in 2005, after she won American Idol), Fantasia (“I Believe” in 2004, also after she won Idol) and Clay Aiken (“This Is the Night” in 2003, following his second-place finish on Idol).
“Dollar,” self-released in September 2022, debuts with 3.5 million U.S. streams (up 1,222%) and 17,000 sold (up 2,300%). It also starts at No. 2 on Digital Song Sales and No. 21 on Hot Country Songs.
Before this week, Oliver Anthony had never appeared on a Billboard chart, making him the first such act to open at No. 1 on the Hot 100. The radiowv YouTube account, which spotlights unsigned Americana and country acts in the Virginia/West Virginia region, posted “Richmond” Aug. 11. The song — with lyrics detailing inflation, taxes, child trafficking and welfare abuse — has drawn both praise from the right and opposition from the left.
The song’s virality has also increased interest in Anthony’s other releases. He debuts 13 tracks on Digital Song Sales chart, led by “Richmond” at No. 1. He’s the only living solo male artist to have charted at least 13 songs in the top 50 of the survey. —Billboard
Even Elvis and the Beatles didn’t debut at the TOP of the charts.
Then again, Elvis and the Beatles didn’t arrive on the scene with viral cross-genre reaction videos like this one, either, did they?
We live in some crazy times.
But as people rally around songs like this one, maybe it will help to remember that we may be living through some crazy times, but we’re not as alone as some of us thought we were.
His story also reminds us that maybe, just maybe, one person CAN make a difference in this world.
(Even you.)
Psalms of War: Prayers That Literally Kick Ass is a collection, from the book of Psalms, regarding how David rolled in prayer. I bet you haven’t heard these read, prayed, or sung in church against our formidable enemies — and therein lies the Church’s problem. We’re not using the spiritual weapons God gave us to waylay the powers of darkness. It might be time to dust them off and offer ‘em up if you’re truly concerned about the state of Christ’s Church and of our nation.
Also included in this book, Psalms of War, are reproductions of the author’s original art from his Biblical Badass Series of oil paintings.
This is a great gift for the prayer warriors. Real. Raw. Relevant.
