Jason Aldean, one of the biggest stars of US country music, has been widely criticised for a new song and video, Try That in a Small Town, which features threats of violence against police protesters.
The song’s lyrics include the lines: “Cuss out a cop, spit in his face / Stomp on the flag and light it up / Yeah, you think you’re tough / Well, try that in a small town / See how far you make it down the road / Around here, we take care of our own.”
Later, Aldean alludes to a conspiracy theory that the US government intends to round up its citizens: “Got a gun that my granddad gave me / They say one day they’re gonna round up / Well, that shit might fly in the city, good luck.”
The video is interspersed with footage of protesters, some of them violent, facing off against police. The filming location for the performance element of the video, Maury County courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee, has a disturbing history: in 1927 it was the site of the lynching of a Black man, Henry Choate.
Country Music Television has now removed the video from its channel, though has not commented or elaborated on the decision. It remains on YouTube where it has been viewed more than 800,000 times.
While plenty of rightwing commentators have supported Aldean, Sheryl Crow is among those criticising him, writing on Twitter: “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 shooting Crow refers to is the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, which took place in Las Vegas in October 2017 as Aldean was performing at the Route 91 Harvest festival. He and his band escaped unharmed, but 60 people were killed and 867 injured.
Aldean has defended Try That In a Small Town, and rebutted claims that it alludes to the Black Lives Matter protest movement. “In the past 24 hours I have been accused of releasing a pro-lynching song … and was subject to the comparison that I (direct quote) was not too pleased with the nationwide BLM protests,” he wrote on Twitter. “These references are not only meritless, but dangerous. There is not a single lyric in the song that references race or points to it.”
He added:
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 neighbours, 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.
Aldean’s peak success came last decade, when he had four back-to-back US No 1 albums, plus two more reaching No 2. Overall he has had 24 No 1s on the US country charts, and has frequently crossed over into the pop charts with six US Top 20 hits including Dirt Road Anthem, Big Green Tractor and most recently If I Didn’t Love You, his 2021 duet with Carrie Underwood.
