Jason Aldean has continued to take heat over “Try That in a Small Town,” a track some have deemed a pro-gun, pro-violence, “modern lynching” song.” Aldean has vehemently denied those depictions of the tune that challenges those who would “pull a gun on the owner of a liquor store” or “cuss out a cop” to, as the title suggests, try those actions in a small town to “see how far ya make it down the road.” The fall-out from the song released in May, and its even-more controversial new video, however, continued to rage on Wednesday night.
CNN’s Caitlin Collins spoke with Tennessee State Rep. Justin Jones — who earlier this year was expelled, then re-instated to the House after leading a gun control protest on the House floor following a school mass shooting in which three children and three adults were killed — who had some unequivocal thoughts on the song.
“As a Tennessee lawmaker, as a youngest black lawmaker in our state, I felt like we had an obligation and a duty to condemn this heinous vile racist song that is really about harkening back to days past,” said Jones, 27. The lawmaker said in his mind it was “no accident” that the video was filmed at the Maury County Courthouse, “where the race riot happened and where as well as the 1927 lynching of a young man who was 18-years-old, Henry Choate, occurred.” Choate was lynched by a mob and hung from the courthouse’s second floor after accusations that he sexually assaulted a white girl; in February 1946, the city that houses the courthouse was the site of a race riot in which two Black men were killed.
Jones said he sees the song as an attempt to normalize “racist, violence, vigilantism and white nationalism,” while “glorifying” a vision of the South that he said the state is trying to move forward from.
The song’s video features footage of an American flag burning, protesters having confrontations with police, looters breaking a display case and thieves robbing a convenience store. Aldean — who in the past has courted controversy by wearing a t-shirt featuring a confederate flag and dressing in blackface as Lil Wayne for Halloween — denied on Tuesday that the song had any ill intent.
“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 a comparison that I (direct quote) was not too pleased with the nationwide BLM protests,” Alden wrote in his statement. “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.”
CMT pulled the video from its rotation after running it for three days, Billboard confirmed, and while Aldean’s wife, Brittany Aldean, came to his defense — as did labelmate Blanco Brown — stars including Sheryl Crow and Margo Price have spoken out against his choice to perform and release the song.
Collins noted that Aldean didn’t write the song, which Jones said features references that he sees as clearly alluding to lynching. “Those lyrics and the lyric that says see how far you make it down the road? I mean, this is a lynching anthem,” he said. “It’s an anthem that reminds me of the stories of young men like Trayvon Martin, Ralph Yarl… Ahmaud Arbery, who were killed by the white vigilantes. I mean, this song is not about small towns, because if it was about small towns, where was Jason Aldean when the Maury County people are fighting for their clean water?… instead he comes to sing a song that harkens back to the vision, that harkens back to fear of outsiders, this racist violence that led my grandparents to leave the small towns fleeing Jim Crow terrorism.”
Jones further criticized the song for what he said was “racist… violent rhetoric” that he believes normalizes that type of speech. “I was expelled challenging gun violence. This song is about this proliferation of guns in our communities, of violence, of taking things into our own hands,” Jones said. “We feel threatened by people because they’re different than us. I mean, this is shameful, and we must condemn it.”
He also noted that Maury County, TN, where the video was filmed, was the site of an incident last week where the KKK left racist recruitment flyers in front of Black churches. “This song is about promoting violence, normalizing violence, particularly white vigilante violence,” Jones said. “And Jason Aldean should be ashamed of himself for promoting the song that seeks our darkest history instead of our better angels in this nation.”
TMZ reported on Thursday (July 20) that Gloria Sweet-Love, the president of the Tennessee chapter of the NAACP, also strongly condemned the song and video, echoing Jones’ assertion that it “clearly” promotes racism and violence.
Watch Jones on CNN below.
