Oliver Anthony: Country Music, Blue-Collar America, Fame, Money, and Pain | Lex Fridman Podcast #469

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 for 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 1930s Appalachia, where his grandfather was born and raised. "Dirt floors, seven kids, hard times," as Chris says. He's happy to be called either one, by the way. I've gotten to know Chris more since the recording of this conversation. He truly is as he appears online and in his songs: down to earth, humble, and a good man who deeply feels the pain of the downtrodden. This is the Lex Fridman Podcast. To support it, please check out our sponsors in the description. And now, dear friends, here's Christopher Lunsford, or as many of you know him as, Oliver Anthony. So, I was texting you, uh, last night, uh, sitting at- at an open mic listening to a guy perform Great Balls of Fire. Uh, like I told you, he was giving everything he got for, like, five people in the audience plus me.

Well, you were there. I didn't- I'd have been doing it too if you were out there. Be like, "Oh, that's Lex Fridman."

No, man. He was, uh, this big dude on the 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.

Yeah.

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.

Yeah.

And you said you started out playing open mics. What? At shitty bars. What was that like?

Well, 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 wo- won all these awards and stuff, and he still works for UPS full-time. And, like, he could go out and tour with... Play mandolin for anybody he wanted to, but he... But man, when you meet Johnny, like, you can tell he's just got this, um, this joy in him that I don't think he would have if he... But as far as me with the open mics, um, yeah. It was just, (laughs) it was, a lot of them were really em- a lot of them were embarrassing. There was a couple, I remember there was times where I'd go up and try to do... I'd do, like, one song. I'd get, like, halfway through the next song, and I'd be so nervous by that point I didn't, I couldn't remember any of the words. (laughs) And there's a couple times I... I remember there was one time (laughs) in particular that I just w- I just walked off halfway through the song, put my guitar in the case, and just w- I just left. I didn't even, like, couldn't even stay in there. Just total, you know, just total freakout, but...