USA Today reports about this song:
Country Music Television is no longer airing Jason Aldean’s music video “Try That In A Small Town,” which sparked criticism after its release Friday.
The TV network pulled the video from rotation, a CMT spokesperson confirmed to USA TODAY in an email Wednesday.
The network stopped showing the music video after Aldean, who survived a mass shooting while he performed in 2017, faced backlash for the song, which many perceived as being in favor of gun violence and lynching.
Not long after the video’s release, online critics highlighted the song lyrics as emblematic of songs heightening gun violence and lynching sentiments upon many in his rural, small-town fan base.
“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 / 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 / Try that in a small town,” Aldean sings.
Viewers also noted that scenes in the video were shot at the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee, where a Black man named Henry Choate, 18, was lynched in 1927. The site is also where the infamous Columbia Race Riot occurred in 1946.
Aldean took to Twitter Tuesday to reject the criticism, sharing a lengthy statement on what the song means to him. “While I can try and respect others to have their own interpretation of a song with music − this one goes too far,” he wrote. …
In the statement associated with the release, he said: “When u grow up in a small town, it’s that unspoken rule of ‘we all have each other’s backs and we look out for each other.’ It feels like somewhere along the way, that sense of community and respect has gotten lost. Deep down, we are all ready to get back to that. I hope my new music video helps y’all know that u are not alone in feeling that way. Go check it out!” …
Shannon Watts, founder of gun violence advocacy group Moms Demand Action, said on Twitter that the song is “an ode to a sundown town, suggesting people be beaten or shot for expressing free speech. It also insinuates that guns are being confiscated, the penalty for which is apparently death.”
Watts returned to Twitter Wednesday to celebrate CMT’s decision.
Singer Sheryl Crow also spoke up on Twitter. “I’m from a small town,” she wrote, addressing Aldean. “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.”
Tennessee state Rep. Justin Jones wrote: “As Tennessee lawmakers, we have an obligation to condemn Jason Aldean’s heinous song calling for racist violence. What a shameful vision of gun extremism and vigilantism. We will continue to call for common sense gun laws, that protect ALL our children and communities.” …
TackleBox, the production company for Aldean’s video, said the location that has come under scrutiny is a popular filming location, citing several other projects filmed there. They include the Lifetime Original movie “Steppin’ into the Holiday” with Mario Lopez and Jana Kramer, a music video from Runaway June “We Were Rich” and a Paramount holiday film “A Nashville Country Christmas” with Tanya Tucker – as well as the “Hannah Montana” film. The company said Aldean did not pick the location. …
The 46-year-old singer from Macon, Georgia, has been no stranger to controversies and tragedies with direct or implied relationships to his new song.
On Oct. 1, 2017, he played on stage at the Route 91 Harvest Festival near the Las Vegas Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino when gunman Stephen Paddock killed 60 people and wounded 800 in an 11-minute hail of bullets.
He has addressed concerns regarding wearing blackface for a 2015 Halloween costume. Moreover, his conservative political beliefs were discussed upon visiting former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago golf course and resort in Florida in 2020 and being embroiled in a dispute regarding the belief that his wife made transphobic remarks and social media posts in 2022 (which led to his publicity firm of 17 years, GreenRoom, to stop working with him).
Aldean’s response:
And Aldean’s incorrect political beliefs (in the opinion of Crow and others) seems to be what this controversy is about.
Aldean’s fans aren’t taking this sitting down, as Fox News reports:
Fans lashed out at Country Music Television, after it pulled singer Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town” music video this week following accusations it was racist. …
“UNBELIEVABLE – CMT just CANCELLED this music video by Jason Aldean about the Antifa-BLM riots SO THE CMT HAS GONE WOKE,” one Twitter user reacted.
Another slammed the network for censoring the singer, drawing attention to other musical artists whose songs are allowed to stay on the air despite having explicit themes.
“CMT is censoring Jason Aldean’s new music video ‘Try that in a Small Town,’ he said. “Most mainstream artists promote drugs, gangs, violence, and sleeping around Jason says ‘hey let’s not rob old ladies and burn down cities’ and CMT bans his video. Screw @CMT.” …
Legal scholar Jonathan Turley argued the decision could hurt the television network financially and was damaging to “artistic freedom and free speech.”
“…Putting aside CMT’s effort to become the BudLight of networks, the decision to yield to the intense cancel campaign is an abandonment of principles of artistic freedom and free speech,” he wrote. …
“Welcome to the most downloaded song of 2023, Mr. Aldean. I just purchased it,” another user shared.
It should be pointed out that country music is not immune to nonpartisan and nonideological politics. Apparently country artists who are not connected to Nashville are shunned by the country music establishment.
This is Sturgill Simpson, who won a Best Country Album Grammy for his album “A Sailor’s Guide to Earth.”
You would think that a Grammy-winning country singer would at least get nominated for the Country Music Association’s Country Music Awards. You would be incorrect.
Simpson played outside the CMAs.
Simpson also apparently gets little radio play if a Reddit post is to be believed, possibly because …
Well, a grammy nomination is hardly reason enough to get played on country stations today, he has no mentions of “hey girl”, trucks, cut off jeans, moonshine, “Georgia pine”, or Yeti coolers in his songs. He’s a total hack wannabe unless he can incorporate those into his songs he has no business on modern country stations.
As others have pointed out, he has a really shit relationship with the entire country music industry. One good example was this blatantly hostile open letter he wrote right after Merle died that he wrote on Facebook.
… to which someone observed:
John Mooreland says it best “Music was better when ugly people were allowed to make it”
Aldean’s shunning isn’t about music-industry politics. It’s about the usual gun cowards who rationalize away actual crime but pee in their pants at the thought of gun owners whose crime rates are considerably lower than can be found in your typical inner-city neighborhood. (The victims of inner-city crime, by the way, are those who live in those neighborhoods, are trying to have better lives, and don’t have mile-long rap sheets.)
Steve Prestegard.com: The Presteblog 
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