What to make of Oliver Anthony, the full red-bearded young Virginian who has taken much of the country by storm with “Rich Men North of Richmond”?

“He seems to be so genuine, so authentic,” someone close to me just said. In an era of fakery and lying those two words seem to fit him and his new song perfectly.

NPR tried to catch the song (and the young man) for their listeners HERE on “Morning Edition.” Did they succeed? Surely they’ll try again.

A YouTube version of it is HERE, and some may find it difficult to listen to and watch just one time. His dogs and all the trees — both silent — don’t hurt either.

For some, “Rich Men” will be a forceful echo of “Sixteen Tons.” Tennessee Ernie Ford’s rendition was No. 1 for weeks and weeks in 1955. It seems like THIS version was the one played over and over on A.M. radio.

“Frankie Laine recorded it also,” writes someone named Mark Gallagher who may have put together THIS moving audio-video combo. “But if you didn’t live in the U.K. you might not have heard Frankie’s version. Frankie had a Top 10 recording in England, but for some reason it was never issued in the States.”

Photos honoring coal miners bring home what Merle Travis tried to get across.

And don’t forget John Prine’s wistful “Paradise,” HERE, inspired by his family’s Muhlenberg County Kentucky roots and, I’m guessing, in part by Travis.

Where does Anthony fit in all of this? In the future.

— MCM