Country sensation Oliver Anthony is leaving the industry a year after his meteoric rise to take up touring ministry

Country sensation Oliver Anthony has decided to leave the music industry.

In a long YouTube video this week, the 32-year-old, whose real name is Christopher Anthony Lunsford and who rose to fame a year ago with his hit “Rich Men North of Richmond,” sat in a wooded area with his two dogs, talking about the express his life and career.

“I have decided that I do not need a Nashville management company going forward. I don’t even have to exist in the music space. That’s why I’m thinking about transitioning my entire company to a traveling mission.” Anthony revealed after speaking about how he believes “our system is broken.”

He added that he wanted to “keep things in the family business, so to speak,” and pointed out that his great-grandfather once was traveling priest.

OLIVER ANTHONY IS STAYING TRUE TO HIMSELF as he grapples with stunning rise to fame, says a friend

In a lengthy YouTube video this week, Oliver Anthony, who rose to fame a year ago with his hit “Rich Men North of Richmond,” said he plans to leave the music industry to become a traveling minister. (Getty Images)

“I have this vision for this thing I’m calling the Real Revival Project, and it’s basically going to start as a grassroots music festival, but hopefully it grows into something that literally changes our landscape, our culture and the way we live “can,” he said in the video released Tuesday.

Anthony said he’s doing his first “thrown together” show on Saturday, but he wants to create something that “exists parallel to Nashville, bypasses the monopolies of Live Nation and Ticketmaster and goes to cities where there hasn’t been music in a long time.” .”

Anthony said he wants to boost the economy in these small towns by showcasing their culture using local musicians and vendors “so you don’t have to drive to Pittsburgh to a specific amphitheater to see a show.”

Oliver Anthony said in the video this week that he wants to “make a difference” and help people. (Oliver Anthony/Instagram)

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At the beginning of the video, Anthony revealed that he’s made so much money from his music success that “I’ll never have to work again in my life. I have everything I wanted.”

But he said he feels “this call” for “this voice of God that keeps putting the vision in my head of how to really make a difference in this world, how to make real change, how to help light a fire, that no one really knows.” may expire during my lifetime or after.

When Anthony reflected on his political views, he said, “I’m a conservative because I believe in the First and Second Amendments,” but he said he didn’t know if he was a Republican.

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“I’m just someone who thinks that the way we live is backwards and so stupid, and that it serves no one except the people at the top of the hierarchy who we don’t really need to serve anymore,” he explained .

Oliver Anthony warms up with guitarist Joey Davis before making a surprise appearance at the Rock the Block street festival in Farmville, Virginia on August 26, 2023. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

Spend the last year in the Music industry “Opened my eyes to how much control and visibility there is from the top down,” he added. “The analysis I can draw from just my fan base is frightening. It’s information that I don’t think even the FBI should have, let alone me.”

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Anthony said he knew he wasn’t doing anything revolutionary: “I just want to help bridge the gap between millions of people who all believe in the larger vision that we all just live normal lives again.”

Anthony, who lives in Virginia with his wife and three children, enjoyed a meteoric rise last year after “Rich Men North of Richmond” went viral on the Internet and made him a star. The song criticizes Washington, D.C., politicians who want “control.”

Before filming the video, Anthony responded to a fan on Instagram that he was “about to quit the music industry. This is a big joke.” Rolling Stone.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Anthony, as well as representatives from Live Nation and Ticketmaster, for comment.