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Virginia country singer Oliver Anthony, a former factory worker, has gone unexpectedly viral thanks to his song “Rich Men North of Richmond,” and on Thursday (Aug. 17) he took to Facebook to introduce himself to his new fanbase.
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“I’m sitting in such a weird place in my life right now,” he wrote, noting that he received “50,000+ messages and emails” recently with people sharing heartbreaking stories. “I never wanted to be a full time musician, much less sit at the top of the iTunes charts. Draven from RadioWv and I filmed these tunes on my land with the hope that it may hit 300k views. I still don’t quite believe what has went on since we uploaded that. It’s just strange to me.”
He continued, “People in the music industry give me blank stares when I brush off 8 million dollar offers. I don’t want 6 tour buses, 15 tractor trailers and a jet. I don’t want to play stadium shows, I don’t want to be in the spotlight. I wrote the music I wrote because I was suffering with mental health and depression. These songs have connected with millions of people on such a deep level because they’re being sung by someone feeling the words in the very moment they were being sung. No editing, no agent, no bulls—. Just some idiot and his guitar. The style of music that we should have never gotten away from in the first place.”
The singer then ran down his biography, sharing that his name is Christopher Anthony Lunsford, but the stage name Oliver Anthony is in honor of his late grandfather and “1930’s Appalachia where he was born and raised.” He dropped out of high school at age 17, but went on to earn his GED. He worked multiple jobs before suffering a fractured skull after a “bad fall” in 2013, which led him to move back to his home state of Virginia. “There’s nothing special about me. I’m not a good musician, I’m not a very good person,” he wrote. “I’ve spent the last 5 years struggling with mental health and using alcohol to drown it. I am sad to see the world in the state it’s in, with everyone fighting with each other. I have spent many nights feeling hopeless, that the greatest country on Earth is quickly fading away.”
He then opened up about his feelings surrounding the divisive nature of the Internet and reclaiming freedom. “When are we going to fight for what is right again? MILLIONS have died protecting the liberties we have. Freedom of speech is such a precious gift. Never in world history has the world had the freedom it currently does. Don’t let them take it away from you,” he concluded. “Just like those once wandering in the desert, we have lost our way from God and have let false idols distract us and divide us. It’s a damn shame.”
Read his full post here.
The now-viral video of Anthony, posted by radiowv, shows the singer offering an acoustic performance of “Rich Men North of Richmond,” vocalizing the pain and angst of the working class at the hands of greedy rich men. The song takes on high taxes, abuse of welfare and selfish politicians.
Watch it below.
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America may or may not have needed another country music awards show, but one more is on the way. The inaugural People’s Choice Country Awards is set for Thursday, Sept. 28, on NBC and Peacock. Nominations were announced on Wednesday (Aug. 16). As with every awards show, there are snubs and surprises in the nominations […]
Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” ties Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” for the second-most weeks spent atop Billboard’s Streaming Songs chart in the tally’s decade-long history, crowning the Aug. 19-dated survey. Meanwhile, the songs share the record for the most time on top, 18 weeks each, among hits billed to singular acts and no collaborators.
“Last Night” leads Streaming Songs for an 18th nonconsecutive week with 26.3 million official U.S. streams in the Aug. 4-10 tracking week, down 2%, according to Luminate.
The song first crowned the Streaming Songs list dated March 18, its sixth week on the ranking, boasting 47.5 million streams that week. It has not fallen below No. 3 since.
An 18th week at No. 1 ties Carey’s holiday anthem, which first led Streaming Songs upon the Jan. 5, 2019, chart and has returned each year since for anywhere between three and five weeks at No. 1 during the holiday season.
The overall record for most weeks at No. 1 belongs to Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus: 20 weeks in 2019.
Most Weeks at No. 1, Streaming Songs:
20 weeks, “Old Town Road,” Lil Nas X feat. Billy Ray Cyrus (2019)
18, “Last Night,” Morgan Wallen (2023)
18, “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” Mariah Carey (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022)
16, “Despacito,” Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee feat. Justin Bieber (2017)
14, “Rockstar,” Post Malone feat. 21 Savage (2017-2018)
14, “Panda,” Desiigner (2016)
13, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” Carolina Gaitán, Mauro Castillo, Adassa, Rhenzy Feliz, Diane Guerrero, Stephanie Beatriz & Encanto Cast (2022)
13, “The Box,” Roddy Ricch (2020)
13, “Fancy,” Iggy Azalea feat. Charli XCX (2014)
13, “Wrecking Ball,” Miley Cyrus (2013-2014)
“Last Night” remains Wallen’s only Streaming Songs-topping tune. He first appeared on the ranking with “Whiskey Glasses” in 2019 and rose as high as No. 3 twice, with “Wasted on You” in 2021 and “Don’t Think Jesus” in 2022, prior to the reign of “Last Night.”
“Last Night” concurrently spends its 27th week at No. 1 on Country Streaming Songs, which is nearly halfway to the overall record, kept by Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line’s “Meant To Be,” which ruled for 55 weeks in 2017-19.
As previously reported, “Last Night” spends a 16th week at No. 1 on the multi-metric Billboard Hot 100, rewriting the mark for the most frames at the summit among non-collaborations.
When Kelsea Ballerini held a fan event on Aug. 8 at the Country Music Hall of Fame, she shared details about her directorial debut with a short film built around her Rolling Up the Welcome Mat EP.
But most revealing, perhaps, was the audience reaction. The female-leaning fan base — which took up roughly 160 of the Ford Theater’s 200 seats (the rest were filled by industry invitees) — yelled the lyrics at the screen as the 20-minute film played six individual chapters addressing different stages of a breakup. The EP and Rolling Up the Welcome Mat (A Short Film) documented Ballerini’s emotional experience surrounding her divorce from fellow country singer Morgan Evans.
Much like Taylor Swift’s rabid fan base or the core fans who made Jason Aldean’s divisive vigilante song “Try That in a Small Town” vault to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Ballerini’s superfans took this EP to heart — and incorporated it in their life.
During the question-and-answer period, one woman told Ballerini that the EP had helped her navigate her own divorce. A newlywed said her husband does not want to cause the kind of pain for his bride that Ballerini conveyed in Welcome Mat. Those reactions seemingly affirmed her intent with the project.
“There are so many songs in country music that are like, ‘I’m going to key your car, it’s all your fault, you’re trash’ — and I love them,” Ballerini told the film’s executive director, P Tracy, who moderated. “That was not [my] story, and so I decided to put it out because I wish that I would have had those five, six songs when I was [in that stage of life]. So that was kind of my goal with it.”
Country artists’ broken relationships often inspire their music. Swift has earned a reputation for hiding Easter eggs about her exes, Carly Pearce built an album around her divorce from Michael Ray, Hank Williams drew creatively from marital turmoil with Audrey Williams, George Jones & Tammy Wynette recorded material that reminded fans of their divorce for years after their split, and even Evans mined his emotions over the divorce from Ballerini in his recent single, “Over for You.”
Ballerini shot most of the six chapters in her short film in one day in Los Angeles, and the work earned three Telly Awards. The public events were a lead-in to the Aug. 11 release of Rolling Up the Welcome Mat (For Good), with new or altered versions of three tracks, plus a new finale, “How Do I Do This,” with a next-chapter message.
Celebrity breakups are difficult for people in the business who know both members of the couple, and they can become a point of contention for fans, many of whom pick a side. In some of Ballerini’s songs, particularly “Leave Me Again,” she seems to wish Evans well, which is a sign of healing and maturity that the fans who look to her for inspiration can use. Ballerini has learned her own lessons, in business and in life, through the process.
“No one is meant for everyone,” she said, addressing personal and business relationships, plus fan bases. “You are meant for who you are meant for … I’m at peace with that.”
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Will Hoge is collaborating with members of the Black Opry and with Shoes Off Nashville (which celebrates and empowers those in Nashville’s Asian Pacific Islander community) to amass an ensemble of talented, diverse musical voices, congregating to challenge stereotypes within the country music community.
“Can I Be Country Too?” a song Hoge wrote a few years ago, asks a series of straightforward questions: can a person “be country” if they also believe that Black lives matter, believe in gay marriage, vote Democrat and do not go fishing or drinking beer every weekend?
The track finds Hoge collaborating with The Kentucky Gentlemen, Carmen Dianne, Michael Allen, Cheryl Deseree and the The Country Any Way Collective. Joining them are musicians Allen Jones and Jerry Pentecost (drums), Christopher Griffiths (bass), Josh Grange (pedal steel and piano), Audley Freed (electric guitar) and Josh Mailiner (fiddle and mandolin). The choir is made up of members of The Black Opry and Shoes Off Nashville.
Hoge, a Nashville-area native, is known for writing songs including Eli Young Band’s 2012 Billboard Country Airplay chart-topper “Even If It Breaks Your Heart,” as well as the band’s song “Just Add Moonlight.” The singer-songwriter has also been outspoken in his own perspectives about society and politics throughout his career, on songs including 2012’s “Ballad of Trayvon Martin” (from his Modern American Protest Music EP), as well as “Still a Southern Man” and “Thoughts and Prayers,” both from his 2018 project My American Dream.
“I’ve always been a bit of an outsider when I’m working on the fringes of the country music world as an artist and writer, and the reasons for that sometimes are incredibly frustrating,” Hoge said in a statement. “I always felt like a lot of my core beliefs and cares were things that if maybe they weren’t allowed, they were definitely frowned upon. Over the last couple years I feel the genre, commercially at large, has really shown how small and homogenous it can be. I know how hard that is for me and I started thinking about how that must feel for so many other folks that I love and care about who are just trying to find their place.”
In that spirit of inclusion, Hoge said he aimed to be as inclusive as possible when it came to finding collaborators. “I wanted to surround myself with folks that are doing this work from the margins and feel frustrated and kind of left out. The artists that lined up to do it represent everything I’ve loved about Nashville and the music community here since I was a little kid,” he said. “It was such a tremendous joy to feel the love in the room as we tracked the song. Having all those voices and all those humans being unabashedly who they are was just tremendous. I’m flattered so many folks showed up in support.”
In a statement, Black Opry founder Holly G noted that Hoge was one of the first people to reach out and offer support when Holly G launched Black Opry. “We’ve built a friendship on learning and better understanding each other’s perspectives, and to this day, Will is the only artist who’s invited the Black Opry Revue to open for him for a show. He’s been such a great friend and supporter.”
Hoge summed up how he felt about the new project, saying “I hope that for young listeners out there, the ones that dream about carving out some kind of living in this business, and they wonder if they fit in, I hope this song is a resounding ‘Yes. You belong.’”
Hear “Can I Be Country Too?” below:
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Morgan Wallen’s crossover smash “Last Night” spends a 25th week atop Billboard’s streaming-, airplay- and sales-based Hot Country Songs chart (dated Aug. 19).
The song passes Walker Hayes’ “Fancy Like” (2021-22) and Florida Georgia Line’s “Cruise” (2012-13) as the sole fourth-longest-ruling leader since the survey became the genre’s main chart in October 1958.
“Last Night,” authored by John Byron, Ashley Gorley, Charlie Handsome and Jacob Kasher Hindlin, drew 59.6 million radio airplay audience impressions (down 11%) and 26.3 million streams (down 2%) and sold 5,000 downloads (down 22%) in the Aug. 4-10 tracking week, according to Luminate.
Here’s a look at the 10 longest-leading Hot Country Songs No. 1s since October 1958. Wallen is the only soloist with two titles on the list, while duo Florida Georgia Line is the only other act with two. (All songs but one below have reigned since the chart adopted the all-genre Billboard Hot 100’s multi-metric methodology in October 2012.)
Longest-Leading Hot Country Songs No. 1s (since 1958):
50 weeks, “Meant To Be,” Bebe Rexha & Florida Georgia Line, beginning in December 2017
34, “Body Like a Back Road,” Sam Hunt, February 2017
27, “I Hope,” Gabby Barrett, July 2020
25, “Last Night,” Morgan Wallen, February 2023
24, “Fancy Like,” Walker Hayes, July 2021
24, “Cruise,” Florida Georgia Line, December 2012
21, “10,000 Hours,” Dan + Shay & Justin Bieber, October 2019
19, “You Proof,” Morgan Wallen, May 2022
19, “The Bones,” Maren Morris, March 2020
19, “Walk on By,” Leroy Van Dyke, September 1961
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Concurrently, “Last Night” leads the Hot 100 for a 16th week. It surpasses Harry Styles’ “As It Was,” from 2022, for the longest command ever for a song by an act with no accompanying artists.
Wallen’s ninth Country Airplay leader dominated that chart for eight weeks and crossed over to No. 5 peaks on both Pop Airplay and Adult Pop Airplay.
Wilson Shines
Lainey Wilson adds her fifth Hot Country Songs top 10, as “Watermelon Moonshine,” which she co-penned, pushes 11-10. The song advanced by 31% to 7.6 million official U.S. streams and sold 3,000 downloads Aug 4-10.
On Country Airplay, the track pushes 19-17 for a new best (12.6 million in audience, up 7%).
Wilson has a second track on Hot Country Songs, her collaboration with BBR Label Group labelmate Jelly Roll “Save Me,” which pushes 22-20 after reaching No. 18 last month. It drew 5.9 million streams (up 12%) and sold 3,000. On Country Airplay, it ranks at No. 49 (1.4 million, up 16%).
Reigning CMA Awards entertainer of the year Luke Combs is gearing up for a double-header of a tour next year, when his Growin’ Up and Gettin’ Old Tour launches in April.
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The 25-show outing will visit 13 cities, with nearly every city getting two nights — Fridays and Saturdays — of shows.
The tour kicks off April 12-13 in Milwaukee, WI. Combs will also play two nights at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium, Jacksonville’s Everbank Stadium and Phoenix’s State Farm Stadium, before wrapping with two shows in Houston at NRG Stadium on Aug. 9-10.
Since his breakthrough hit “Hurricane” spent two weeks at the pinnacle of Billboard’s Country Airplay chart back in 2017, Combs has become known for his wellspring of hits, becoming one of the biggest country music sensations of his generation. But with this tour, he continues doubling down on introducing fans to other musicians he loves, from contemporary country acts, to those that lean more into the Americana and Red Dirt genres.
The Friday night lineup of shows will feature Combs’ headlining set, in addition to guests Charles Wesley Godwin, Hailey Whitters, The Wilder Blue, Cody Jinks and The Avett Brothers. The Saturday night opening acts will include Jordan Davis, Colby Acuff, Drew Parker and Mitchell Tenpenny.
Growin’ Up and Gettin’ Old Tour. 13 cities. 25 shows. ⁰⁰Join/login to my fan club at https://t.co/RzSYEvromx to receive pre-sale info (info also emailed to members).Tickets will go on sale to the public next Friday, August 25 at 10 AM local venue time. pic.twitter.com/GEXiuJ2A2b— Luke Combs 🎤 (@lukecombs) August 15, 2023
“We got an opportunity to do two shows in some U.S. markets on the World Tour, but when I found out we were going to be able to do two shows for most all of the cities on the 2024 tour, I decided I wanted each show to have their own unique set up of openers, as well as my own unique setlist,” Combs said in a statement. “I thought this would give people an opportunity to come to both nights if they want, but see two completely different shows.”
He added, “With country music being such a wide genre and being a huge fan of it all myself, I wanted to open up my stage to acts that lean into Outlaw, Americana and Red Dirt on Friday nights, as well as having a night with people I have toured with in the past, who are more contemporary country,” he explained. “I’m super excited to have both groups be out on the road with me for the Growin’ Up and Gettin’ Old Tour!”
The tour takes its name from Combs’ recent pair of albums, 2022’s Growin’ Up, and its 2023 companion Gettin’ Old, and will follow his current 44-show World Tour, which visits three continents and 16 countries, and continues through the fall with concerts in Europe and Australia.
Combs recently helped country music make history on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, as his rendition of Tracy Chapman’s classic “Fast Car,” alongside Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” and Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town,” recently commanded the top three slots on the Hot 100, the first time in the chart’s history that three country songs had reached that milestone. “Fast Car” also spent five weeks atop the Country Airplay chart, and two weeks atop the Adult Pop Airplay chart.
Tickets for the Growin’ Up and Gettin’ Old Tour go on sale to the general public on Aug. 25 at 10 a.m. local time here, while Combs’ fanclub members will have access to a presale beginning Aug. 23 at 10 a.m. local time.
See the full list of dates below:
April 12 – Milwaukee, WI @ American Family Field
April 13 – Milwaukee, WI @ American Family Field
April 19 – Buffalo, NY @ Highmark Stadium
April 20 – Buffalo, NY @ Highmark Stadium
April 27 – University Park, PA @ Beaver Stadium
May 3 – Jacksonville, FL @ EverBank Stadium
May 4 – Jacksonville, FL @ EverBank Stadium
May 10 – San Antonio, TX @ Alamodome
May 11 – San Antonio, TX @ Alamodome
May 17 – Santa Clara, CA @ Levi’s® Stadium
May 18 – Santa Clara, CA @ Levi’s® Stadium
May 31 – Phoenix, AZ @ State Farm Stadium
June 1 – Phoenix, AZ @ State Farm Stadium
June 7 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Rice-Eccles Stadium
June 8 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Rice-Eccles Stadium
June 14 – Los Angeles, CA @ SoFi Stadium
June 15 – Los Angeles, CA @ SoFi Stadium
July 19 – East Rutherford, NJ @ MetLife Stadium
July 20 – East Rutherford, NJ @ MetLife Stadium
July 26 – Washington, D.C. @ FedExField
July 27 – Washington, D.C. @ FedExField
August 2 – Cincinnati, OH @ Paycor Stadium
August 3 – Cincinnati, OH @ Paycor Stadium
August 9 – Houston, TX @ NRG Stadium
August 10 – Houston, TX @ NRG Stadium
Shania Twain is inviting fans to “Come On Over” when she launches her latest Las Vegas residency in May 2024 at the 7,000-seat Bakkt Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino.
The upcoming slate of 24 shows — titled Shania Twain: COME ON OVER – The Las Vegas Residency – All The Hits! — are set for May, August, September, November and December. This marks Twain’s third career residency, following her Still the One residency (2012-14) and the more recent Let’s Go! Residency (2019-22).
“If you want to change things or you want the show to evolve, it’s as if the whole building, the whole theater is my playroom for a while,” Twain told Billboard via Zoom of why she loves residencies. “I love that I get consistency that I can build a show that I don’t have to worry about moving around. It’s a very different approach to the production when you have the luxury of things being maybe a little more fragile and if there are things you couldn’t take on the road. It’s a controlled environment, no variables you have to worry about — you can get the sound and lights the way you want it. That custom element of the production is a luxury.”
Of her Planet Hollywood venue, she adds, “The Bakkt Theater feels more intimate to me than some other theaters. It’s a real party vibe and inspires me to be close to everybody. This residency is going to be more interactive, with more fan interaction.”
The new slate of shows will take place in May (10, 11, 15, 17, 18, 23, 25 and 26), August (23, 24, 29 and 31), September (1, 4, 6 and 7), November (29 and 30) and December (4, 6, 7, 11, 13 and 14).
General on-sale begins Monday, Aug. 21, at 10 a.m. PT at Ticketmaster.com, while Citi card members will have access to presales beginning Aug. 16 at 10 a.m. PT through Aug. 20 at 10 p.m. PT, and Live Nation/Caesars Entertainment presales will happen Aug. 17-20. Twain’s fans will have access to a presale beginning Aug. 16 at 2 p.m. PT.
Shania Twain: COME ON OVER – The Las Vegas Residency – All The Hits! takes its name from Twain’s 1997 album Come On Over, which yielded massive international hits including “That Don’t Impress Me Much,” “Man! I Feel like a Woman!,” “You’re Still the One,” “From This Moment On” and “Don’t Be Stupid (You Know I Love You).” On Aug. 25, Twain will release the multiple expanded U.S. and International “Diamond” editions of Come On Over, in celebration of the project’s 25th anniversary.
Twain, who was named the Country Music Association’s entertainer of the year in 1999, recalls of those heady music-making and tour years, “It’s funny, because I don’t have very vivid memories of that time, because it was such a whirlwind. It was single after single, and video after video. It was as if I couldn’t keep up. And I was on tour for the first time since I had had my first radio hit. Everything bottlenecked, so it was the tour, trying to fit in choosing the next single, and what the video would be like, styling the videos, editing the videos. I was hands-on with everything, and it exhausted me. So I didn’t get to enjoy a lot of it in the moment. But I’m celebrating now.”
Twain tells Billboard that fans can expect the Come On Over residency to be filled with many of her classic hits — including, of course, songs from Come On Over — but also songs from her recently released Queen of Me album.
“On the Queen of Me Tour, I change out the set list quite often, so it’s giving me ideas [for the residency],” Twain says. “I haven’t settled in entirely to my set list for the Come On Over residency because of that exact factor, so I’m still working that out. Everyone loves ‘Giddy Up!,’ and ‘Waking Up Dreaming’ is a total bop for everyone. I have kids come up onstage and their parents would’ve grown up with Come On Over, and a few times I will ask the little kid, who might be like 5 or 6 years old. I’ll ask them what their favorite song is, and they will say ‘Queen of Me.’”
Whether on her current tour (which will launch its second leg in September in the United Kingdom) or as part of a residency, Twain’s concerts are known to be eye-popping spectacles of color, upbeat music and high fashion — something Twain says won’t change during the upcoming residency.
“I’m in a new chapter of creative expression that I’m obsessed with,” the five-time Grammy winner says. “For the Queen of Me Tour, I went through all my boxes, and deep in to all my closets and in storage, for all the fabulous garments. I hadn’t touched a lot of them in 25 years. It’s re-imagining them, and in some cases dismantling them and putting them back together in a new way. I have this new passion for how I see myself in them onstage, and that’s going to apply to the residency as well.
“I have so much experience, from touring, with performing in fashionable clothes and thinking about how they move, how they wear when I’m sweating. I’m always thinking, ‘Can I kick and run in them? How do they look in motion and in still photographs?’ I enjoy building these clothes. I’m great with the scissors. I’m not a good sewer, but I have a great team. I’m a great pinner and I’m in there literally designing the looks for every show.”
As a hands-on, creative professional, Twain says she still has more ideas she would love to incorporate into her residencies.
“I haven’t done this yet, and I don’t know if I can. I’ll have to find a way. I want to have a huge, inflated sphere that I can run around in over the audience — I should never have said that out loud,” she says with a laugh. “But I really want to do that, because I think the fans always have so much fun when balls are thrown into the audience, and I want to be in that. I’m gonna make a giant transparent beach ball and I’m gonna get in it and roll around while I’m still young enough to do it without getting hurt. I don’t know how I would do it — I always get a ‘No’ from production; they’re like, ‘That’s not even possible.’ I’m gonna figure out a way to do it at some point, so I can get out there and go everywhere in the room.”
Outside of the residency, Twain has other dreams — including one very collaborative one she has her sights set on.
“One of my dreams is to do a whole album of duets,” she says. “It’s a common dream, I think, to sing with your favorite singers, and I would get a chance at quite a few by doing a whole album of duets.”
However, she notes, one of those dream collaborations would have included the late Country Music Hall of Famer Glen Campbell, who died in 2017 after his battle with Alzheimer’s Disease. “Glen was one of my dream duet singers,” Twain says, “so that isn’t going to happen now and that’s sad. So I better get to it while everybody else on my list is still around.”
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree! Gwen Stefani‘s eldest son Kingston Rossdale — whom she shares with ex-husband Gavin Rossdale — hopped onstage at his stepdad Blake Shelton‘s bar and live music venue, Ole Red, on Friday (Aug. 11). In a clip circulating TikTok, the 17-year-old is seen making jokes with the crowd […]
Singer-songwriter Oliver Anthony’s name was all over the interwebs this past weekend thanks to his viral hit “Rich Men North of Richmond.” A performance of the song shared by radiowv — a YouTube channel that highlights musicians around West Virginia — just five days ago now stands at over nine million views on YouTube. The […]