Cassadee Pope calls out Jason Aldean after he releases racist ‘Try That in a Small Town” music video
Social media put country singer Jason Aldean on blast after the country singer released a controversial video for his single, “Try That in a Small Town.”
Now, almost a year after Cassadee Pope called out Aldean’s wife, former American Idol contestant Brittany Kerr Aldean for making transphobic comments, she’s coming at the country singer for his arguably racist song and music video. The Voice season 3 winner wrote on Twitter: “I just feel like if you’ve been called out THIS MANY TIMES about being problematic, maybe it’s time to self reflect? But what do I know.”
The song title is self explanatory. Basically, it’s about how small town citizens aka “good ole boys’ will run YOU out on a rail with their guns if you don’t fall into line. The song dropped in May, but the new video, accompanied by violent imagery of burning cars, robberies, and street fights, came out last week and seems to evoke the conservative view of BLM protests prompted by police killings in the summer of 2020. That is, all violence all the time.
“Well, try that in a small town. See how far you go”
The incendiary lyrics go: “Cuss out a cop, spit in his face / Stomp on the flag and light it up / Yeah, ya think you’re tough.”
The verse goes: “Well, try that in a small town / See how far ya make it down the road / Around here, we take care of our own / You cross that line, it won’t take long / For you to find out, I recommend you don’t.”
“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”
“Full of good ol’ boys, raised up right / If you’re looking for a fight / Try that in a small town / Try that in a small town.”
Angering critiques further: The video was shot in front of the Maury County Courthouse in Colombia TN, the same building where a mob hanged 18-year-old Henry Choate from the balcony in 1927. Columbia is also the site of an infamous 1946 race riot that nearly resulted in the lynching of future Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall.
Aldean’s critics cried censorship when CMT pulled the video amid complaints
Aldean’s allies cried censorship when CMT pulled the video from their rotation. But it’s available for anyone to view on YouTube, where it has amassed over 6 million views. Also, his CMA Festival performance of the song was not edited out of the ABC special, which aired Wednesday night. But that decision was likely based on how close to airtime the situation blew up. No time to edit. ABC did NOT post the performance on their socials.
Nevertheless, the song is also No 1 on iTunes, and it’s possible Aldean will be received at the next country awards show like a conquering hero. See: Morgan Wallen.
In Aldean’s defense, the production company TackleBox said in a statement that the video was shot at a “popular filming location outside of Nashville” and that Aldean did not choose the location. What’s more Aldean didn’t write the song. Kelley Lovelace, Neil Thrasher, Tully Kennedy, and Kurt Michael Allison wrote it. Also worth noting: Aldean did NOT grow up in a small town. He spent his childhood between Macon, GA and Homestead, FL and currently lives in Nashville.
“There is not a single lyric in the song that references race or points to it,” Aldean insists
In his defense, Aldean wrote on social media: “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. 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 far as the “real news footage.” a Tik Tok influencer did some research and found that some of the violent imagery came from stock footage filmed overseas. There is some real news footage mixed in to the edit, but what Aldean is insisting about the “news” footage is categorically wrong.
He also wrote, “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.”
Did Aldean’s team purposely court controversy?
When a country singer is evoking “good ole boys” with guns taunting enemies to basically “f— around and find out” and the imagery depicts urban spaces as violent and dangerous? Yeah, that’s not evoking a feel good vibe. And yeah…that’s racist. I suspect Aldean’s people knew the song would blow up alongside controversy, deliberately sparked.
In his statement, Jason addresses the irony of vaguely threatening outsiders with gun violence: “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.” Jason was performing in Las Vegas when a shooter killed dozens of concert goers with an AR 15. Tennessee also recently experienced a deadly mass school shooting.
Last year, Cassadee Pope and Maren Morris called out Aldean’s wife after transphobic comments
Last August, Cassadee called out Aldean’s wife, Brittany Kerr after she made a transphobic joke about outgrowing her childhood “tomboy phase.”
“You’d think celebs with beauty brands would see the positives in including LGBTQ+ people in their messaging,” Cassadee wrote on social media at the time. “But instead, here we are, hearing someone compare their ‘tomboy phase’ to someone wanting to transition. Real nice.”
After singer Maren Morris jumped in with her own thoughts. Aldean stood up for his wife throughout the drama.
After winning The Voice in 2012, Cassadee embarked on a country music career. She had some success in that genre, but recently returned to her pop/punk roots. It’s a good thing she did, because country music fans would have canceled her by now.
