Whitlock: The ‘Rich Men’ of the music industry will seek to destroy Oliver Anthony

We better pray for Oliver Anthony, the hard-living factory worker turned Bob Dylan wannabe.

Three days after uploading a backyard video performance of his protest anthem "Rich Men North of Richmond," Anthony read from the book of Psalms before an overflow crowd gathered to hear him sing.

“The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them,” Anthony said, Bible and guitar in hand. “But the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming.”

Pray for Oliver Anthony. A month ago, he fell to his knees and asked God to deliver him from drinking and depression. He cried out for a purpose. It appears God gave him one: speak truth to power.

"Rich Men North of Richmond" calls out our nation’s political elite, the politicians in the nation’s capital, just a two-hour drive up I-95 from Richmond, Virginia.

It’s a damn shame what the world’s gotten to
For people like me and people like you
Wish I could just wake up and it not be true
But it is, oh it is

Livin’ in the new world
With an old soul
These rich men north of Richmond
Lord knows they all just wanna have total control
Wanna know what you think, wanna know you do

The song and video uploaded on Thursday have turned Anthony into the hottest untapped musical prospect since the Jackson 5 won an amateur night contest at Harlem’s Apollo Theater.

OK, that might be an exaggeration. But not by much. "Rich Men North of Richmond" shot up the iTunes music chart, reaching No.1. The video has nearly 9 million views on a tiny West Virginia radio station YouTube page. In a matter of days, his social media following exploded. He has 425,000 Instagram followers and 300,000 followers on Twitter.

Every talent agency in America wants to sign the bearded crooner, who took up singing and songwriting in 2021. Country star John Rich – among others – has offered to produce Anthony’s first album. Conservative influencers flooded social media with words of encouragement and support. Meanwhile, corporate media platforms quickly framed Anthony as a “right-wing” cult hero. They compared Anthony’s acoustic ballad to Jason Aldean’s viral hit "Try That in a Small Town."

It’s an inaccurate comparison. "Try That in a Small Town," released in May, took flight in July after the release of a controversial video that used images of Black Lives Matter rioting.

Anthony’s powerful voice and lyrics power "Rich Men North of Richmond." The video can best be described as bare-bones. Anthony, in a wrinkled T-shirt and old, dusty jeans, belts out his song, strumming a guitar while standing in the woods with his two pet dogs and a microphone. There’s nothing to see. There’s plenty to hear.

Anthony captures the sentiment of the average working man, the typical American unsettled by the overnight transformation of foundational societal norms. The song is a mix of anger, desperation, and repentance. He begins with an admittance of selling his soul for no real reward. He curses and scolds.

The proper comparison to "Rich Men North of Richmond" is Aaron Lewis’ two-year-old "Am I the Only One," which topped the country charts and reached gold status despite radio stations refusing to play it. The difference is that Lewis has been a known artist with a significant following since the 1990s. He started as the lead singer for the rock band Staind and has been a solo country artist since 2010.

Oliver Anthony is from nowhere, a small farm in Farmville, Virginia. He knows he’s picking a fight with the devil. You wonder if he truly understands all the different ways Satan seduces.

We better pray for Oliver Anthony.

His walk with God is just beginning. By his own admission, he’s been dancing with the devil for much longer. The music industry will offer him the best drugs, alcohol, and women the world has to offer. If that doesn’t work, the industry will loose its puppets in corporate media to comb through every aspect of Anthony’s personal history.

Does he have an ex-girlfriend willing to smear him? Has he ever had a testy exchange with a black person at a grocery store? Did he like the wrong Facebook post? Did he vote for Trump?

Oliver Anthony knew “Rich Men North of Richmond” was a powerful song. On August 7, he recorded a nine-minute cellphone video introducing himself to the world and talking about his aspirations for the success of the song.

“It’s going to be the first song that’s going to get out there that’s been recorded on a real microphone and a real camera and not just on my cell phone,” he humbly states while sitting in his truck. “And Lord willing, it’s going to get some traffic and maybe a few of you will drift your way over here. I thought I would have kind of an introduction video on what it is I’m aiming to do here.”

He goes on to explain the meaning and purpose of "Rich Men North of Richmond." He feels the working class has been forgotten. The song is directed at the political elite on both sides of the Democrat-Republican divide. Anthony believes in the uniparty. He sees himself as neither left-wing nor right-wing. He’s also bothered by the normalization of sexualizing kids.

He sounds like me. He sounds like someone who finally realized America’s problems and solutions are spiritual, not political.

“I spent a long time being a little angry, agnostic punk,” he admits. “And I remember talking about sky daddy and cloud papa. I would get so angry about the concept of God because I had perverted what my vision of God was because I looked at the religion of man as God, not God Himself. There is a divine creator that loves you. Sometimes it takes falling down on your knees and getting ready to call things quits before it becomes obvious He’s there. But He’s always there. You got to look out for Him and listen for Him.”

We better pray for Oliver Anthony.

He’s taking on a beast, an industry controlled by satanic forces. The music industry, corporate media, and social media all work against authentic voices speaking truth to power. The industry glorifies and rewards Sam Smith, Lil Nas X, Lizzo, Taylor Swift, Cardi B, Harry Styles, Beyonce, and Kendrick Lamar, the artists who promote radical materialism, hedonism, and idolatry. The industry tolerates the mainstream artists willing to ignore the dark, demonic nature of popular culture and participate in the woke social justice movement constructed to conceal the commercialized wickedness.

Oliver Anthony’s eyes and mouth are wide open. He’s a threat. His instant success proves a large number of Americans are still rejecting matrix programming.

Not by choice or design, he’s the Donald Trump of folk music. Anyone, regardless of color, geography, or economic standing, who speaks or sings on behalf of the average American risks persecution.

The wicked shall plot against Oliver Anthony. Let us pray that his enemies vaporize into smoke as the fat of lambs.