The conservative anthem ‘Rich Men North of Richmond,’ explained

rewrite this content and keep HTML tags Oliver Anthony singing his now-viral song “Rich Men North of Richmond.”Screenshot via YouTubeIt was inevitable that “Rich Men North of Richmond” would eventually show up on my radar, although lord knows I put in plenty of background work to avoid it. I stopped hate-reading conservative dreck years ago. I have all of my TwiXter filters turned up to 11. And I never, ever listen to country music. So when Redpill America pulls one of its usual bulls—t stunts — boycotting a chain restaurant because they added a “Big Gay Salad” to their menu or something — I only hear about it in bits and pieces, if I hear about it at all. Life is good this way.But despite my efforts, I am sometimes forced to confront these shenanigans head on. After boycotting Bud Light, and after giving Jim Caviezel’s acting career a second wind that no one asked for, our insurrection-curious brothers and sisters have found a new obsession in independent country artist Oliver Anthony, and with this song in particular:AdvertisementArticle continues below this adThat’s “Rich Men North of Richmond,” which currently sits at No. 1 on the iTunes country chart and will likely remain there until Leigh Anne Tuohy records a song titled “My Underground Railroad.” Anthony is a native Virginian who rocketed to fame in part thanks to his natural talents and the power of YouTube to broadcast those talents to a wide audience. This is the kind of viral bootstraps story you’ve encountered many times over as an Internet American.But how much of Anthony’s story is legit? Did his rise come about naturally, or is that merely what everyone has been led to believe? Also, is this song any good? It can’t possibly be good, right? Well since I’m a journalist, and since I hate myself, I decided to get some answers for you. How was Anthony discovered?If you go by the YouTube history — which is always a smart move — Anthony was discovered by radiowv, a music channel on YouTube that was, according to its bio, “created by two broke college students with passion for soulful and real music.” Radiowv doesn’t have an active Twitter account, and its Instagram and Facebook accounts contain no other additional biographical information. The names of the two students who founded radiowv aren’t listed anywhere, but their page does include the email address for a “Draven Riffe,” which is frankly a pretty cool name. Sounds like a kick-ass defensive back. Riffe’s own Twitter account is private, so I sent an email to him asking for more details about the radiowv channel and its founding. I have yet to hear back but will update this post if I do.AdvertisementArticle continues below this adIs the radiowv channel legit?As far as I can tell, yes. Radiowv has been posting videos since 2019, and virtually all of the people they’ve showcased are similar to Anthony: talented young artists playing unplugged in a rustic setting. Trees, dogs, deer stands, etc. Countrified Bon Iver stuff. And unlike “Rich Men North Of Richmond,” most every other song featured on the channel has no discernible political bent. They don’t all have titles like “She Done Gone Woke” or “Ain’t No Gender Neutral Bathrooms In This Bar.” It’s mostly just normal country s—t.To indulge my inner muckraker, I must note that Draven Riffe seems to have posted one of his own songs to the channel, named “Brother.”AdvertisementArticle continues below this adIs Riffe’s own song good?Not really, no. But he plays it like he means it, which earns my grudging respect. If Riffe started radiowv as a way of giving his own singing career a boost, I can’t say I blame him. Do what you gotta do.Is ‘Rich Men North Of Richmond’ a better song than Riffe’s?AdvertisementArticle continues below this adIs ‘Rich Men North Of Richmond’ a good song in its own right?You know what? It is. Trust me, I was ready to hate Oliver Anthony. I WANTED to hate him. Hating country music singers is as easy for me as drinking a glass of water. Then I hit PLAY on the video and quickly realized that Anthony could sing. He’s such a good singer that it makes perfect sense that he would stand out from his peers on this channel. This is a talented man. Even I can see that.Oh so that’s why he’s famous now?AdvertisementArticle continues below this adWhat is it, then?Well, here’s a clue for you: the rich men Anthony is singing about do not live immediately north of Richmond, you know what I’m saying? Anthony is talking about, in his words, “DC politicians.” Those clowns in Congress.What are these rich men doing that’s so bad?I’ll let the chorus answer that part for you:AdvertisementArticle continues below this ad“Livin’ in the new world / With an old soul / These rich men north of Richmond / Lord knows they all just wanna have total control.”Okay, I’m with Anthony here. I hate Congress. Every American does. It might be the only thing we all have in common. Everyone in Congress is rich, old and only willing to spend money on some awful war, or on a coal mine that Joe Manchin built under the Capitol. So Oliver Anthony and I are kindred spirits so far. Man, this is just like that one Black Jeopardy sketch.But …?Dive into the verses and you’ll find that Anthony isn’t only singing about D.C. politicians.AdvertisementArticle continues below this ad“The obese milkin’ welfare,” he sings, followed later on by, “Well, God, if you’re 5-foot-3 and you’re 300 pounds / Taxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge rounds.”Now you can understand why the right-wing media has embraced this song with such vigor. The Let’s Go Brandon spirit is alive and well in these lines, enough so to make you think that they wrote the song themselves and then hired Anthony to put a credible face on it.Did they?I couldn’t help but presume so, especially given the right-wing’s long and sordid history of astroturfing. But nothing that I or other reporters have found proves that Anthony is an industry plant. I emailed Reach Digital CEO and former Blaze writer Jason Howerton, one of the first people to spread the word about Anthony, for comment. Here’s what he wrote back: AdvertisementArticle continues below this ad“Hey Drew, I didn’t discover Oliver. He was already way viral by the time I came across his song. The timeline that I understand is the video was going viral on [YouTube] and TikTok first. I only saw it after someone shared in my Twitter timeline. I actually think I’m getting way too much credit for his rise for some bizarre reason ha!”This response echoes Howerton’s public statements denying that he was part of any coordinated campaign to make Anthony’s song the unofficial national anthem of our worst citizens.Do you believe Howerton?To an extent. I don’t think Howerton was part of some kind of nefarious collective that invented Oliver Anthony out of whole cloth. I think that he and prominent right-wingers stumbled upon Anthony, liked what they heard, and quickly integrated his work into their day-to-day rhetoric. I don’t think it needs to be any more complicated than that. The astroturfers can let the content come to them. No need to create anything if they don’t have to, because they’re all lazier than that fictional 300-pounder eating fudge rounds. Honestly, it’s enough to make me feel sorry for Anthony.AdvertisementArticle continues below this adHow so?Because none of this is about a song anymore. Maybe Anthony — who hasn’t spoken to the media since becoming a star — wrote “RMNOR” because he figured it was an easy, Kid Rock-esque chance to pander his way into the limelight. More likely, he was just singing whatever was on his mind, and then everyone else decided to use it for their own ends. This is nothing like Jason Aldean’s “Try That In A Small Town,” which is about as cynical a country music song as has ever been recorded. This is the work of an artist who is talented, raw, and probably a touch ignorant. That’s why it makes for such compelling political bait. These wingnuts couldn’t have invented Oliver Anthony if they’d tried. They lucked into him, and let their bad faith carry them from there. Anthony is a gifted singer, but mostly a convenient avatar for the redpill industrial complex. He’s the real American, not the fatty on welfare.And that’s where my empathy…

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