Picking up an old acoustic guitar I’d had for 20+ years, I began playing every single day back in late 2018, This became a cathartic escape from a deep, dark hole prompted by the tragic death of my only son a year before.

When I started playing three or four songs at open mics in 2019, I never thought I’d end up writing nearly 40 songs over the next three years, while releasing music regularly on Bandcamp. I especially never thought I’d have the guitar skills to play professionally, often carrying three-hour sets of covers interspersed with my own songs.

My goal was never to become a popular musician. First, the musical influences I have are obscure indie bands and singers—performers like Guided by Voices, Swearing at Motorists, and some bigger name performers like Wilco and Car Seat Headrest.

At the same time, I honestly thought I might manage to gather a niche following of music fans, similar to what I’ve been able to cobble together over the last 20 years as a writer. My Moxie book still sells steadily because I’d found a nostalgic topic that came with a built-in cult following.

Music seems to be different, however. At least for me.

Not for Oliver Anthony (real name, Christopher Lunsford), however. A country performer singing plaintive songs, supposedly living just east of where I’m now living in Virginia. A guy few (if any) local musicians had ever heard of, suddenly bolted to the top of the Billboard charts in August, becoming the first artist to debut at No. 1 on the charts. His YouTube video of his song, “Rich Men North of Richmond” has been viewed 70 million times since being uploaded at the start of August. The song has now accumulated a similar amount of streams on Spotify. He’s become the darling of a right-wing rabble, glomming onto an artist not any better than the country cover artists that are all the rage in Central Virginia.

Did Oliver Anthony really come out of nowhere?

This was all rather suspicious to me. Then, I ran across a musician named Matt Moran who has been raising a series of red flags about Anthony. His ongoing Twitter posts about astroturfing and right political influencers using marketing tools and even bots to ratchet-up Anthony’s music poll position is fascinating to comb through. I’m also digging Moran’s music way more than the “fraud from Farmville’s.”

Go ahead and like Anthony’s music. That’s your prerogative. But you don’t necessarily have to go all-in thinking that this artist is some kind of cultural savior on the basis of one song.

I wrote new song I am releasing as a single that teases out some of that tension between believing Anthony might be the real deal, while holding onto some healthy skepticism—the latter being a better position—especially given Anthony’s recent signing with Hollywood talent promoters, United Talent Agency.

Give Anthony another six months before you knight him country music’s king, or cultural savant. He might even disappoint you sooner than that.

My latest release:

Update:

The single just got added to AmazingRadioUSA’s daily indie rotation.