Oliver Anthony Says He’s in No Hurry to Sign a Deal: ‘People in the Industry Give Me Blank Stares When I Brush Off $8 Million Offers’

variety.com:

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Viral sensation Oliver Anthony has spoken — or rather written — at length for the first time since his song “Rich Men North of Richmond” became a nearly overnight national phenomenon, going into his circumstances and background and saying he has no intention of rushing into any record deal. “People in the music industry give me blank stares when I brush off 8 million dollar offers,” he wrote in a 730-word message posted to his Facebook account Thursday morning. “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.” He continued, “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.” Anthony, who confirmed in the post that his legal name is Christopher Anthony Lunsford (as previously indicated by official songwriting credits), struck a humble pose in assessing his own skills as a singer and musician, even as he alluded further to angry feelings about the state of America that have led the song to be embraced virtually wholesale by conservative politicians and commentators. “There’s nothing special about me,” Anthony wrote in the Facebook post. “I’m not a good musician, I’m not a very good person.