News/Commentary

CMT’s Bud Light move is about to rocket Jason Aldean’s fed up American anthem ‘Try That in a Small Town’

July 19, 2023 | | Print Article

Cancel culture has come for Country yet again, this time over a new music video from a chart-topping artist who dared to hold a mirror up to leftist madness.

Initially released in May, Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town” kicked a hornet’s nest of virtue-signalers over the weekend when the music video debuted on CMT only to be pulled by Monday. Though the network declined to comment, they had confirmed to Billboard that the video had been taken down after playing in their rotation Friday through Sunday.

Claims of offense from outspoken activists belied the timing of their laments as much ado was made about the lyrics rather than the imagery that Aldean chose to lay them over. Standing in front of a courthouse with clips of what appeared to be Black Lives Matter and Antifa rioters interspersed with other crimes, the performer can be heard singing at one point, “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.”

Outrage over the song included linking Aldean to the Las Vegas shooter because he was performing at the time of the massacre, a detail Sheryl Crow quote tweeted as she wrote, “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.”

The outcry against Aldean was further fueled by corporate media with reports that dismissed the reality of the clips and instead focused on the lyrics and the history of the location where the video was filmed.

One example was featured in this snippet from NBC News that reported, “His tweet with that message did not assuage those who have seen anger toward city dwellers or even racial dog whistles in the video, which was filmed in front of a courthouse in Colombia, Tennessee that is well known for having been the sight (sic) of a lynching of a Black man in the 1920s. Aldean did not address the part of the controversy that specifically has to do with the racially charge[d] location.”

Evidently, they took umbrage with the artist’s non-apology after he released a statement Tuesday defending the meaning of the song while also recognizing his personal views on “senseless” violence like that experienced in Las Vegas and by the Nashville community after the murders of schoolchildren and teachers at The Covenant School earlier this year.

“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,” Aldean began. “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,” he continued. “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.”

Of course, the effort to suppress Aldean’s message is expected to backfire as more attention is brought to it with some, like former Republican congressional candidate Kimberly Klacik, suggesting, “I have a feeling @Jason_Aldean will soon have the #1 song on the charts…”

The video, which had surpassed 800,000 views on YouTube by Wednesday morning, can be viewed in full here:

Kevin Haggerty
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