I'm Brian Hyatt. This is Rolling Stone Music Now. Just a couple weeks ago, practically no one had heard of Oliver Anthony.

Now the Virginia-based country singer has the number one song on the Hot 100,

Richmond, North of Richmond.

And last night, that song was the subject of the first question

of the Republican presidential primary debate.

Moderator Martha McCollum said that Anthony's lyrics, quote, speak of alienation, a deep

frustration with the state of government and of this country.

I know what you do and they don't think you know, but I know that you do. And addressing Florida Governor

Governor Rhonda Santis, she added,

Washington DC is about a hundred miles north of Richmond.

Why is this song striking such a nerve in this country right now?

In his answer,

Desantus blamed Joe Biden, American decline, Hunter Biden's paintings, and Congressional spending,

but that's another story.

We're going to try to provide our own answer to that question and talk about the deeply

unusual rise of this song and this singer-songwriter. He definitely has

real talent and there's also some eyebrow-raising aspects to this story in this

song. Oliver Anthony's real name is Christopher Anthony Lunsford. Oliver Anthony was his grandfather's name and he said in a Facebook post that he uses it to honor him in his upbringing in 1930s Appalachia.

The singer says he worked blue collar and sales jobs since dropping out of high school and currently lives in a camper on a property he owns.

He told Fox News he is neither a Republican nor a Democrat.

And one of his songs dug on it says both parties are quote full of crap.

And Republicans, Democrats, Lord I swear they're all just full of crap.

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