Oliver Anthony Does It Again, This Time With 'I Want To Go Home'

In another creative burst, Oliver Anthony has once again captured the angst and heartache of living in the modern world with old fashioned American values, wondering plaintively what happened to our country. In “I Want To Go Home,” he once more taps into the grief of watching a world that’s increasingly out of control from his farm in rural Virginia.

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His soulful voice is reminiscent of such standard-bearers of Americana as Levon Helm, BB King, and John Fogerty. The production values in his YouTube videos are deceptively simple. A rural background and a simple, country-boy setup provide the backdrop, but the sound reveals expert engineering. And the writing — oh, those lyrics! Using that voice as a blow torch, Oliver Anthony cuts a pathway right into your inner workings:

If it weren’t for my old dogs and the good Lord
They’d have me strung up in the psych ward
‘Cause every day living in this new world
Is one too many days to me
Son, we’re on the brink of the next World War
And I don’t think nobody’s praying no more
And I ain’t saying I know it for sure
I’m just down on my knees begging the Lord take me home

I wanna go home
I don’t know which road to go
It’s been so long
I just know I didn’t used to wake up feeling this way
Cussing myself every damn day
There’s always some kind of bill to pay
People just doing what the rich man say
I wanna go home

Four generations farmin’ the ground
Grandson says to a man out of town
Two weeks later the trees go down
Only got concrete throwin’ around

I wanna go home
I wanna go home
I don’t know which road to go
It’s been so long
I just know I didn’t used to wake up feeling this way
Cussing myself every damn day
People have really gone and lost their way
They all just do what the TV say
I wanna go home

If it weren’t for my old dogs and the good Lord
They’d have me strung up in the psych ward

When Oliver Anthony says, “I wanna go home,” we all know, innately, without articulating it, just exactly what he means. He wants to go back to an America that makes sense. An America where we weren’t stratified by the lust for wealth and power. An America that wasn’t ruled by mass media and government messages.

Related: The Song That Screams From America’s Soul: Oliver Anthony’s ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’

In a comment pinned on his YouTube video, Oliver Anthony credits others for creating the Appalachian sound. He thanks them, and then reminds them he represents Piedmont, not Appalachia:

Im super appreciative of everyone. Just to be clear, I am Piedmont born and raised, not Appalachia. I don’t deserve any credit for Appalachian music, there are many gifted folks doing their thing further west of me. Love y’all.

Also, his name isn’t Oliver Anthony. In a social media post after “Rich Men North of Richmond” left a hypersonic missile trail in the sky, the musician revealed his grand secret: his name is Chris. Oliver is the name of his grandfather, for whom he has immeasurable respect:

Im sitting in such a weird place in my life right now. 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.

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 bullshit. Just some idiot and his guitar. The style of music that we should have never gotten away from in the first place.

So that being said, I have never taken the time to tell you who I actually am. Here’s a formal introduction:

My legal name is Christopher Anthony Lunsford. My grandfather was Oliver Anthony, and “Oliver Anthony Music” is a dedication not only to him, but 1930’s Appalachia where he was born and raised. Dirt floors, seven kids, hard times. At this point, I’ll gladly go by Oliver because everyone knows me as such. But my friends and family still call me Chris. You can decide for yourself, either is fine.

He goes on to say he dropped out of high school, got a GED, worked in paper mills, and suffered a fractured skull in a work accident. Since then, he suffered from mental health challenges and substance abuse. He’s a normal guy. “There’s nothing special about me,” he says. “I’m not a good musician, I’m not a very good person. 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.”

So many of us feel exactly the same way, Chris.

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