Country star Jason Aldean has made waves with his no-nonsense song, “Try That in a Small Town,” which came out in May. When the music video released recently, it sparked so much controversy that CMT dropped the video. Critics say the ballad, which refers to criminals that “carjack an old lady at a red light” and the way small town folks might respond to such crime, with their own guns passed down from previous generations, promotes vigilantism and gun violence.
It’s incredible that a music video featuring real clips of protests, violence, burning the US flag, and theft that happened here in the US and around the world is being condemned but when those actual acts of violence, looting, and robbery happened, they were barely a blip on the progressive media landscape. In fact, they were praised. A riot in Kenosha was even described by CNN as "fiery but mostly peaceful" as a way for the network to run cover for BLM and Antifa militants.
Not to mention, certain genres of music, including rap, R&B, and hip-hop have glorified violence on the streets and abuse against women and children for decades. Often, those songs are celebrated as works of art, depicting certain cultures.
In the lyrics, Aldean suggests that swearing at cops, stomping on the US flag, or burning down cities wouldn’t be tolerated by the kind of people that thrive in small towns: “Try that in a small town / See how far you make it down the road / Around here we take care of our own,” the lyrics read.
Critics have bashed the song’s lyrics and the accompanying music video, but as soon as the criticism came pouring in, the song rose to the top of the Billboard charts, reaching number one on iTunes. Fellow country stars Travis Tritt and others have supported Aldean. Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley tweeted, “You all know I love music... tonight in Greenville we added a new song to the playlist: Jason Aldean’s ‘Try That in a Small Town.’”
Aldean told a crowd at a recent concert in Ohio, “I've seen a lot of stuff suggesting I am this, suggesting I am that. Here's the thing, I feel like everybody is entitled to their opinion. You can think something all you want to, it doesn't mean it is true. What I am, is a proud American. I love our country, I want to see it restored to what it once was before all this bulls**t started happening to us.”
Elsewhere, Aldean has said the song refers to small town camaraderie. “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.”
Aldean is in no way supporting or condoning random acts of violence of vigilante justice by suggesting small town folks might stop a home robbery with their own weapon. Self-defense is not vigilante violence. “Stand your ground” laws are a very real thing. People often forget Aldean has experienced senseless violence firsthand. He was onstage in 2017 when a mass shooting at the Las Vegas Route 91 Harvest Festival took the lives of 59 people. Hundreds were wounded. He is in a position to condemn it, just like the rest of us are.
In the song, Aldean points out the differences between how city and small-town folk might handle various kinds of violence, and data supports his premise. Of the top 30 cities with the highest violent crime rates, not one city had a population under 100,000, (25-50,000 is typically considered a small town). It’s no secret violence, especially in larger cities, has increased since the pandemic, though it had been decreasing prior to it. The song is not glorifying violence. Aldean is showing it in order to condemn it. Of course, it’s worth pointing out, in life and in music, there are no absolutes: some of the worst violent crimes do happen in small towns (see, Uvalde, Texas, May 2022, population 15,312.). No one is completely immune. But Aldean’s general point about the kind of people who populate small towns still holds.
One critique of Aldean’s video is that he stood in front of the Maury County Courthouse in Tennessee. That’s where Henry Choate, a black man, was hanged from the building’s balcony, allegedly for attacking a white girl, in 1927. It’s not clear whether Aldean knew that or not before he staged his music video there, but one thing is sure: Aldean’s song doesn’t support lynchings. Maury County Courthouse may be where an awful, racist thing happened 100 years ago, but it’s also where hundreds of people have since been brought to justice too. Why haven’t those cases been mentioned? Many older venues have a mixed history: Are we to burn them all down or should they be left up to redeem themselves? The message of Aldean’s song is that he wishes we were all better.
Aldean’s point seems clear, even nostalgic. In the song he longs for a simpler time when American cities didn’t seem littered with gratuitous violence. Violence that burns down cities due to riots to the tune of $500 million in damage. He wishes that all Americans would look out for another the way small town folks often do, with a sense of community and honor. He respects law-abiding gun-owners for defending themselves and their property, as is their right. These are not country values; these are American values, inherent and God-given. We should honor them and we should strive to bring them back. A country song won’t do it, but it can make people see what they’re missing: Peace.
