Jason Aldean defends controversial single decried as a 'modern lynching song,' says backlash is 'not only meritless, but dangerous'

“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,” country star Jason Aldean wrote on Twitter Tuesday afternoon. “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.”

Why are music fans protesting Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town”?

Aldean took to social media Tuesday to address the controversy surrounding the new video for his politically charged single, “Try That in a Small Town.” The country star — who witnessed the worst gun massacre in U.S. history at the 2017 Route 91 Harvest music festival in Las Vegas — had already caught flak for the song’s seemingly pro-gun lyrics, which celebrate “good ol’ boys raised right” who “take care of their own.” In a tweet, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America founder Shannon Watts pointed out the hypocrisy of an artist “who was onstage during the mass shooting… that killed 60 people and wounded over 400 more” recording a song “about how he and his friends will shoot you if you try to take their guns.” In another viral tweet, police reform activist Brittany Packnett Cunningham pointed out: “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*. Your listeners are dying.”

Why has Aldean’s music video only increased the backlash?

Public outrage regarding “Try That in a Small Town” escalated on July 14, nearly two months after the single’s release, when Aldean released its music video accompanied by a statement about yearning to “get back” to a small-town “sense of community and respect” that has “gotten lost.” As both Mississippi Free Press news editor Ashton Pittman and a scathing Variety op-ed titled “Jason Aldean Already Had the Most Contemptible Country Song of the Decade. The Video Is Worse” noted, the Shaun Silva-directed “Try That in a Small Town” video — which intersperses Aldean’s performance in front of an American flag with news footage of what appear to be 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, flag-burnings, lootings and police attacks — was filmed outside the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tenn. It was at this site in 1927 that a white lynch mob dragged an 18-year-old Black man named Henry Choate behind a car before hanging him from a second-story courthouse window. “That's where Aldean chose to sing about murdering people who don't respect police,” Pittman tweeted, juxtaposing an exterior courthouse screenshot from Aldean’s video with an archival newspaper photo of Choate’s lynching.

Author and Raw Story reporter Matthew Chapman also decried the video, claiming it “absolutely captures everything about the American Right, from the paranoid threats of violence, to the irrational fetishization of communities where everyone acts and thinks the same, to the fact that the singer in fact grew up in a city.” (Aldean is from Macon, Ga., which has a population of 153,000.) Others called “Try That in a Small Town” a “modern lynching song,” with faith leader and podcaster Rev. Jacqui Lewis stating, “There is no non-racialized way to write a song about lynching. ‘See how far ya make it down the road,’ invokes a very particular legacy.” Blogger Leigh Love also tweeted that the song “is not only reminding people that sundown towns exist, but that he loves them. Don't even listen or watch to give him the views, but read the very scary lyrics. It's like he forgot about the January 6 insurrection.”

Did CMT really pull the video from rotation?

The “Try That in a Small Town” video, which as of this writing has racked up 424,000 views on YouTube, did play on country music channel CMT throughout the weekend, but it was pulled from the cable network on Monday, according to Billboard and Deadline. On Tuesday, a representative for CMT confirmed to Yahoo Entertainment that “the video is no longer in rotation,” but offered no explanation or reason for this programming decision.

Reps for Aldean’s record label, BBR Music Group, did not respond to request for comment. However, a representative for the video's production company, TackleBox, told Yahoo Entertainment that “Try That in a Small Town" was shot at a “popular filming location outside of Nashville” and claimed several other projects have been filmed there over the years, including the holiday movies Steppin’ Into the Holiday and A Nashville Country Christmas, the Runaway June video “We Were Rich,” and the Hannah Montana film. “Any alternative narrative suggesting the music video’s location decision is false,” said the Tacklebox rep, who also noted that Aldean did not choose the video location.

How is Aldean defending “Try That in a Small Town”?

Responding to the growing backlash Tuesday, Aldean continued to deny that his song and video have any racist or pro-gun connotations. “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,” he posted on Twitter and Instagram. “NO ONE, including me, wants to continue to see senseless headlines or families ripped apart. ‘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.”

Why has Aldean become more politically vocal in recent years?

While Aldean didn’t always openly express his conservative political views, he has become increasingly outspoken since 2020. He and his wife, influencer Brittany Aldean, have posted anti-Joe Biden, anti-vaccine and pro-Trump statements online and they caught flak for spending New Year’s Eve 2021 weekend with Donald Trump, whom Jason called “the G.O.A.T.” and a “class act.” In September 2022, the singer parted ways with his publicity company of 17 years, GreenRoom, after Brittany drew the ire of liberal country stars like Maren Morris and Cassadee Pope with what many considered to be transphobic remarks.

Last year, Aldean explained to Taste of Country, “When you got kids and you're kind of seeing the future for them, like what it looks like, it's pretty scary. So, I think for me, just seeing that, and you know, just how everything has been the last couple of years has been pretty wild. A lot of things that I don't agree with, and sometimes it's kind of hard for me to sit back and not say anything. … To me, there's a bigger picture there. If somebody doesn't listen to my music because of the way I think politically, that to me is kind of crazy, but whatever. To me, the bigger issue is we got kids and future generations that we gotta get this stuff straightened out. It's kind of like the wild west out there right now. It's just been kind of crazy. It's hard to not have an opinion.”