Oliver Anthony is still reeling off the success of his breakout hit, “Rich Men North of Richmond,” which is currently enjoying its second week atop the Billboard Hot 100 albums chart. In a rare interview, the 31-year-old singer joined the Joe Rogan Experience podcast to share more about how the whirlwind past week has felt.
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“I’m the subject matter the last couple of weeks,” he shared of the political discourse surrounding his song, with both right-wing and left-wing supporters taking stabs at what the song represents. “People are just trying to find out who’s this Oliver Anthony guy, and where does he work, and who did he vote for, and what’s his family like and yada yada. They want to build this image of whatever it is that the person behind the song represents, for better or for worse.
“It’s really funny to watch on my end, because obviously, I know what’s true and what’s not,” he continued. “There’s there’s been hundreds of hours of people’s time wasted probably talking about all these little like things that don’t even exist. Somebody made them up, put them on the Internet. So, I’m just letting it ride. I just think it’s great. At least the last couple of weeks, I think I’ve been able to entertain everyone and get everyone’s mind off like all the all the other horrible stuff that’s going on in the world right now. Like, at least everybody can have a good laugh.”
Anthony also shared more about his background and how he got into music later in life. “The problem for me was I knew that I needed to do this. I procrastinated with music a long time,” he explained. “I mean, I’m 31 and I’ve been playing guitar and singing on and off since I was a kid. My grandma was in a band years ago and, I was like five and I used to sit with my grandma and we’d watch The Dukes of Hazzard and watch Waylon Jennings pick that guitar — I had no idea who Waylon Jennings was, but I just fell in love with that. I grew up listening to that 70s country and she loved all the old stuff, like the 50s and 60s and even in the 70s, even, you know, Janice [Joplin] and all that. She really introduced me a lot into music when I was a little kid. I just kind of held on to it, but never pursued it the way I should.”
Watch the full interview clip below.
