ALBUM REVIEW: What to Make of Oliver Anthony’s ‘Hymnal of a Troubled Man’s Mind’

It feels almost like a fever dream. That one weekend last August when a mysterious singer in Virginia launched his song “Rich Men North of Richmond” into the stratosphere. The song went viral immediately, and within a week of its release it had been streamed 17.5 million times and shot straight to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Was it truly a magical moment of a song striking a chord and finding popularity with no help at all from the music industry machine? Was it all a ploy orchestrated by the right-wing political movement that grabbed onto the song with both hands and claimed it as a rallying cry? (Anthony has said he sits in the middle of the political spectrum, and responded to the song being used in a GOP presidential debate question with a 10-minute video in which he called the whole thing “aggravating.”)

The “Richmond” situation, like Oliver Anthony’s music itself, might be whatever you read into it, and in these powder-keg times, things turn explosive quickly. Actions beget reactions, and those hot takes beget conspiracy theories, division, finger-pointing, and fear. When the dust finally settles, it all starts to feel a little silly. But that doesn’t keep us from tearing ourselves apart over stuff all over again.

So buckle up for a whole album from Chris Anthony Lunsford, the rural Virginian who borrowed his artist name from his grandfather. Hymnal of a Troubled Man’s Mind, announced Friday morning, releases on Easter Sunday, which might be viewed as appropriate, given the eight short Bible readings interspersed between the 10 songs, or as a gimmick, a provocation, or an unasked-for pair-up with the reason for the season Himself.

Hymnal collects polished-up versions of songs that have previously existed online in “rough draft” form, Anthony explained in a press release announcing the album. (There is one not-yet-released song, “Momma’s Been Hurting.”) Anthony apparently did not sign with any of the labels who were rumored to have pursued him, instead releasing Hymnal on his own. But he does have PR representation for this album, and he did land a high-profile producer in Dave Cobb, who has worked with Jason Isbell, Chris Stapleton, and Brandi Carlile, among many other roots music luminaries.

Notably absent from this album is “Rich Men North of Richmond,” though folks looking for that vibe will easily find it in “Doggonit,” which seems baked from the same recipe. Over finger-picked guitar, Anthony’s plaintive voice checks all the same boxes:

✔ scorns life in the city (“There’s needles in the streets / folks hardly survivin’ / on sidewalks next to highways full of cars self-drivin’”)

✔ uplifts the working man (“I reckon there’s been many good men in the grave tryin’ to keep our houses lit / From down in the oil fields and the pipelines and the linemen and the coal mines / So we can set alone and plug in our newfangled bullshit”)

✔ skewers both political parties equally (“Republicans and Democrats, Lord I swear they’re all just full of crap / I ain’t never seen a good city-slickin’ bureaucrat”)

✔ echoes a ridiculous right-wing rage-farming talking point: “People eatin’ bugs / ’cause they won’t eat bacon”

Mostly, though, the songs flog a short list of familiar themes: Eschewing material wealth in favor of a simple life, valuing good dogs (there are SO many dogs on this album), hitting rock bottom, living through hard times, and asking the lord for help to get by.

“Rich Man’s Gold” is a loping country ode to hard workers in rural places, who feel rich when blessed with simple things like a dog, a shack, and a “crick in the back,” paired somewhat awkwardly with a reminder that “you weren’t born to just pay bills and die.” “Cobwebs and Cocaine” starts with a rather graphic depiction of a wife’s suicide, and then, cringeworthy for a different reason, a dog’s decision to run away rather than live with a man in the grips of addiction and despair. On “Feeling Purdy Good,” there’s a short respite from all that darkness, and some more solid songwriting too. There’s drinking to cope, a view from the bottom, and some singing of the blues “’cause the Lord knows I got ’em,” but despite all that, it’s a good day for this working man, and things might even look better tomorrow.

What doesn’t feel overworn here is Anthony’s voice, augmented by his steel guitar. That rasp we first heard on “Richmond” fully embodies despair, but it’s nuanced. It can do rage, this we know, but it can turn tender as well, as it does on “Always Love You Like a Good Old Dog,” a convincing love song with a pleasing mix of looking back and looking forward and finding a way through hard times. The lyrics don’t always land, but the sweetness does.

The Bible verses, many from Ecclesiastes, echo Anthony’s practice of a reading before his live shows, but they don’t add much to the album, other than perhaps to offer insight into his worldview. They focus mostly on the dangers of chasing material wealth and celebrity, but they don’t feel closely connected to the songs themselves. The frequent interstitials break up the album’s flow and prevent a full immersion into the songs. But then again, without them, the songs’ similarity in theme, pace, and structure might become glaringly obvious.

On the whole, Hymnal of a Troubled Man’s Mind is less a statement than a summary. These are songs Anthony has written in the past decade, never really thinking they’d find an audience beyond local open-mic nights or the RadioWV sessions on YouTube on which he first shared them. And some of the songs, even polished up and augmented with fiddle and bass and other instrumental support, don’t hold up on a stage much bigger than that. But there’s that voice, and its blend with his guitar, and some good lyrical and melodic ideas. With this project behind him, Anthony is promising new songs soon. Those will show us what he intends to build, and whether he has the material to make it last.

Oliver Anthony’s Hymnal of a Troubled Man’s Mind is out March 31. An album release concert to benefit Beacon Hill Church’s food outreach program will be livestreamed on Anthony’s social media channels Sunday.