Jason Aldean’s most recent track and music video garnered criticism over the past few weeks, but that didn’t stop him from topping the charts.
And now, the singer has spoken out.
It comes after his latest song found itself in the midst of controversy, following the release of its music video.
The track originally dropped in May, when it was met with little attention, but the music video’s setting and content have resulted in Country Music Television, a country music cable network in the States, pulling the video from the channel.
The video remains on YouTube, where it has amassed 4 million views.
The video shows Aldean performing in front of Maury County courthouse, located in Columbia, Tennessee, and is the site of a lynching of Henry Choate, a Black man, in 1927, per The Guardian. This shot is mixed with footage depicting protests as being violent.
The lyrics of the song came under fire following the attention drawn to it after the release of the music video.
Lyrics facing criticism include: “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.”
As well as: “Got a gun that my granddad gave me / They say one day they’re gonna round up / Well, that s*** might fly in the city, good luck.”
However, on Tuesday, Aldean shared a post to Twitter dismissing the backlash.
“In the past 24 hour 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,” he 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 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,” he continued, “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 went on to explain his interpretation of the track.
“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 neighbours, 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 one day without a headline that keeps us up at night. But the desire for it to – that’s what this song is about.”
Despite Aldean’s pushback against the controversy, the backlash has not stopped, with fellow country musician Sheryl Crow adding her voice to the debate.
“I’m from a small town. Even people in small towns are sick of violence,” she wrote on Twitter. “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.”
Crow refers to the Route-91 shooting that Aldean also mentioned in his statement. In 2017, Aldean was performing at the festival in Las Vegas when the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history occurred, leaving sixty people dead and 867 injured.
And she wasn’t the only one to share her thoughts, Jason Isbell has since joined the conversation, taking to Twitter to call the singer out.
He wrote: ““Dare Aldean to write his next single himself. That’s what we try in my small town.”
He referred to the fact the song wasn’t actually written by Aldean himself, instead, Spotify credits Kelley Lovelace, Kurt Allison, Neil Thrasher, and Tully Kennedy as the writers.
After fellow Twitter users slammed him for not tagging Aldean, he wrote another post, tweeting: “Ok here ya go @Jason_Aldean I’m challenging you to write a song yourself. All alone. If you’re a recording artist, make some art. I want to hear it.”
He continued: “Seriously how do you defend the content of a song you weren’t even in the room for? You just got it from your producer. If you’d been there when it was written, you’d be listed as a writer. We all know how this works.”
However, not everyone agrees, as country legends Travis Tritt and Pat Boone have spoken out in defence of the singer.
Tritt told Aldean “damn the social media torpedoes” and said he should “say what you want and be who you want to be.”
Boone also discussed the issue with Fox News, saying: “It’s gotten sick, I can’t believe it is country music. I’m thinking about Trace Adkins, and of course, many of [his] songs were very supportive of opposing America’s enemies.
“What we’re not taking into account is that many of our enemies are in our own house and they’re in our own countries and our own streets.”
And now, Aldean’s wife has spoken out.
Brittany Aldean took to Instagram this week, amid the backlash, and posted a photo of her sat alongside her husband on the beach. She captioned the post: “never apologize for speaking the truth.”
She also took to Instagram stories on Tuesday, sharing that “It’s the same song and dance. Twist everything you can to fit your repulsive narrtive [sic]. How about instead of creating stories, we focus on the REAL ones such as CHILD TRAFFICKING? Food for thought,” she claimed.
And now, the singer has gone on to bash cancel culture at his recent concert in Cincinnati’s Riverbend Center.
He stopped mid-performance to address the controversy, he said: “I love our country, I want to see it restored to what it once was before all this bulls**t started happening to us. I love my country, I love my family and I will do anything to protect that, I can tell you that right now.” The crowd then burst into a “USA” chant.
He added: “That’s something that if people don’t like what you say they try to make sure they can cancel you, which means try to ruin your life, ruin everything.
“One thing I saw this week was a bunch of country music fans that can see through a lot of the bulls***. I saw country music fans rally like I’ve never seen before and it was pretty badass, I gotta say. Thank you guys so much.”
What do you make of it all.
