Tag: jason aldean

It was as predictable as the sun rising in the east – as soon as there was a backlash against Jason Aldean’s pro-lynching song “Try That in a Small Town,” there was a backlash against the backlash. CMT did the right thing by pulling the music video – which was staged at the site of an infamous lynching – this week after the video had only been airing for a few days. Other musical artists and gun-control advocates have been slamming Aldean for the song and the video. So of course the GOP and their wingnuts are tripping over themselves to declare Aldean as their favorite son of the south.

Conservatives are vigorously defending country singer Jason Aldean after the video for his controversial song, “Try That in a Small Town,” was pulled from CMT rotation following accusations that the tune promotes gun violence and sundown towns.

While Aldean has fired back at his critics, claiming allegations that he released a “pro-lynching song” are “not only meritless, but dangerous,” the video itself was filmed at Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee—the site of the 1927 mob lynching of Henry Choate, an 18-year-old Black man who was dragged through the streets before he was hanged from the building’s window.

With the tune’s in-your-face message prompting Democratic lawmakers to condemn it as a “heinous song calling for racist violence,” and the video no longer in CMT’s rotation, it was just a matter of time before the right-wing outrage machine rallied around behind Aldean and the song itself.

Longshot GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who has made anti-wokeness a key component of his campaign, tweeted out the video on Wednesday while complaining about the “cancellation” of Aldean’s song. According to Ramaswamy, the same critics blasting “Try That in a Small Town” are the ones who glorified an inflammatory Ice-T track that conservatives wanted to ban in the early 1990s.

“Jason Aldean writes a song defending the values that ALL Americans used to share – faith, family, hard work, patriotism – only to be immediately sacrificed at the altar of censorship & cancellation,” he wrote on Twitter. “These are the same people who cheer songs like ‘Cop Killer’ & the glorification of sex and violence in hip-hop. Stand strong against these hypocrites and opportunist frauds, @Jason_Aldean. It’d be a real shame if the song hits #1. We’ll do our part & play it at our rallies.”

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem posted a video on Wednesday declaring herself “so impressed” with Aldean’s single, adding that her “good friend” helped write it. Continuing with the pandering, Noem said she had initially “hoped the video would be shot in South Dakota,” but now she’ll let the “persecuted” Aldean “play anywhere” in her state and “facilitate” any concert appearances by the artist, including at the governor’s mansion.

[From The Daily Beast]

It keeps going and going – right-wing pundits and conservative columnists are now chiming in how wokeness has come for Jason Aldean, that Aldean has been “canceled” by the left-wing mob. Literally the only thing that’s happened is that CMT said “we don’t want to air this trash on our network.” That’s it. The music video is still on YouTube, country music radio is still playing the song and I’m sure people are still streaming it. Nevermind the fact that Aldean’s album is still available for purchase – it hasn’t been banned anywhere either. No one is blocking his concerts or tours either. This is the new dumbf–k culture war, guys. Forget Bud Light, forget Hunter Biden – the new battleground is “the government should force CMT to air Jason Aldean’s lynching song!”

.@Jason_Aldean I’m from a small town. Even people in small towns are sick of violence.There’s nothing small-town or American about promoting violence. You should know that better than anyone having survived a mass shooting.

This is not American or small town-like. It’s just lame https://t.co/cuOtUO9xjr

— Sheryl Crow (@SherylCrow) July 19, 2023

Uvalde? Small town.

VA Tech? Small college town.

Newtown? Small New England town.

Parkland? Small town that had just been voted Florida’s *safest* town.

Most mass shootings occur in *small towns* @Jason_Aldean. Your listeners are dying. https://t.co/NlUN8uBzZ2

— yung auntie (she/her). (@MsPackyetti) July 17, 2023

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

This week, Jason Aldean’s song “Try That in a Small Town” has been making a lot of headlines. I didn’t realize, before now, that the song has been out for a few months already. The music video recently came out, which is probably what started this week-long conversation about the lyrics of the song and the imagery of the video. The lyrics are plainly pro-lynching. The music video is plainly pro-lynching, especially given that Aldean staged the video at the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee, the site of the lynching of Henry Choate in 1927. Well, it looks like Aldean’s Git Er Done (Er being “lynching”) message was too much even for the country-music network CMT. CMT removed Aldean’s video from the air and Aldean threw a huge hissy fit about all of the backlash. Keep in mind, Aldean and his Insurrectionist Barbie wife are very MAGA.

CMT has confirmed that, after initially airing Jason Aldean’s highly controversial music video for “Try That in a Small Town,” the network pulled the contentious clip from the air on Monday, even before the furor over the tune grew greater on Tuesday. A CMT spokesperson had no further comment on the video being yanked. Reps for Aldean’s label, BBR Music Group, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Billboard was first to report the video being removed by the network.

Meanwhile, Aldean took to his social media Tuesday afternoon to defend the song from its many critics, taking a much softer tone in his messaging than he does in the hostile single itself, or a video that projects images of demonstrators onto a courthouse that was the site of a famous lynching.

“In the past 24 hours I have been accused of releasing a pro-lynching song (a song that has been out since May) and was subject to the comparison that I (direct quote) was not too pleased with the nationwide BLM protests. These references are not only meritless, but dangerous… There is not a single lyric in the song that references race or points to it- and there isn’t a single video clip that isn’t real news footage -and while I can try and respect others to have their own interpretation of a song with music- this one goes too far. As so many pointed out, I was present at Route 91-where so many lost their lives- and our community recently suffered another heartbreaking tragedy. NO ONE, including me, wants to continue to see senseless headlines or families ripped apart.”

Aldean tried to paint the song as taking a positive attitude on small towns, and downplayed the belligerent threats to outsiders that make up most of the lyrics, not to mention the stock footage of protesters that takes up a good portion of the video’s running time.

“‘Try That In A Small Town,’ for me, refers to the feeling of a community that I had growing up, where we took care of our neighbors, regardless of differences of background or belief. Because they were our neighbors, and that was above any differences. My political views have never been something I’ve hidden from, and I know that a lot of us in this country don’t agree on how we get back to a sense of normalcy where we go at least a day without a headline that keeps us up at night. But the desire for it to — that’s what this song is about.”

[From Variety]

“Where we took care of our neighbors, regardless of differences of background or belief.” The song is literally about white guys murdering people who don’t “fit in” with his all-white, all-Christian view of small towns?? What if your small-town neighbor is a Black woman who attends BLM protests? Is the song about her right to exist as a Black woman in a small town and her right to protest? No. It’s not. It’s a song which is gleefully about murder, lynching and mythologizing a corrupt and racist police state. Anyway, I’m sort of shocked that CMT made the decision to remove the video. As Variety pointed out in the piece, it will be interesting to see if country-music radio follows suit and removes the song from rotation (hint: they will not). I imagine this controversy will make the song climb up the country music charts too.

Variety’s music critic didn’t hold back this week: “Jason Aldean Already Had the Most Contemptible Country Song of the Decade. The Video Is Worse.” Yeah, I’m not posting the video.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

I basically only know of Jason Aldean because he’s married someone Maren Morris referred to as Insurrectionist Barbie. It’s honestly difficult to keep some of these country bros straight, because it feels like they’re all going to end up disappointing everyone. That being said, the cheatsheet is: Chris Stapleton is a good guy, Luke Combs covered Tracy Chapman and Jason Aldean and his wife are MAGA. Well, we can add something new to our country music crib sheet: Jason Aldean wrote an ode to small-town lynchings. I’m not joking. Here are some of the lyrics to Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town.”

Cuss out a cop, spit in his face


Stomp on the flag and light it up


Yeah, ya think you’re tough

Well, try that in a small town


See how far ya make it down the road


Around here, we take care of our own


You cross that line, it won’t take long


For you to find out, I recommend you don’t


Try that in a small town

Got a gun that my granddad gave me


They say one day they’re gonna round up


Well, that sh-t might fly in the city, good luck


Try that in a small town

See how far ya make it down the road


Around here, we take care of our own


You cross that line, it won’t take long


For you to find out, I recommend you don’t


Try that in a small town

Full of good ol’ boys, raised up right


If you’re looking for a fight


Try that in a small town


Try that in a small town

Try that in a small town


See how far ya make it down the road


Around here, we take care of our own


You cross that line, it won’t take long


For you to find out, I recommend you don’t


Try that in a small town

[Lyrics from Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town”]

There’s nothing quite like a white dude in 2023 mythologizing the most despicable parts of American history. Yes, he’s absolutely describing lynchings and their modern equivalent: violent, targeted hate crimes. Sundown towns still exist, there are still many parts of this country where Black and brown people are targeted for harassment and hate crimes simply for their skin color. Check out where Aldean shot his music video too. Despicable.

Jason Aldean shot this at the site where a white lynch mob strung Henry Choate up at the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tenn., after dragging his body through the streets with a car in 1927.

That’s where Aldean chose to sing about murdering people who don’t respect police. https://t.co/gBL7FlaBS2 pic.twitter.com/eGfmMc8HAI

— Ashton Pittman (@ashtonpittman) July 17, 2023

Just a reminder that Jason Aldean grew up in a city (population approx. 160,000) and now lives in Nashville, TN (population 692,000).

He has no idea what “happens in a small town”, he’s just a racist who writes barely concealed lynching songs. https://t.co/5JvfucZ5cN

— Kendall Brown (@kendallybrown) July 17, 2023

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.