How America’s right turned “Rich Men North of Richmond” into a hit
Oliver Anthony’s song blames urban elites for the woes of working-class Americans
He sports a red beard fit for a Viking, prays before he performs and strums his guitar with his three hounds slumped by his boots. Oliver Anthony is an unlikely star. And yet his song, “Rich Men North of Richmond”, released on August 11th, is crowning the charts, having racked up more than 34m streams on YouTube. He is the first musician to debut in the number-one slot on the Billboard Hot 100 without having had another song in the charts before. How did an unsigned, unknown artist become the minstrel of the moment?
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Minstrel of the moment”
Culture August 26th 2023
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