Jason Aldean's "Try That in a Small Town" really shook the table when it first came out. His response record to anti-patriotism and protesting remains especially thorny. Essentially, he warns any vague listener to see what happens if they "cuss out a cop" or "stomp on the flag and light it up." Despite all these threats, Jason swears he wasn't trying to make anyone upset.
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Recently, Aldean spoke with Hook & Barrel magazine for a cover story. There, he sincerely argues for the merits of "Try That in a Small Town" despite its controversy. "Our mentality was to be a little more mindful, writing songs that have a little more meat on the bone than just these sorts of easy songs that'll get played on the radio that don't really say a whole lot. We concentrate on writing songs that say something, whether that be about relationship stuff or, even 'Try That in a Small Town,'" Jason says.
Jason Aldean Didn't Think His Big Song Would Garner Backlash
Moreover, Aldean says he simply went into the songwriting process by trying to capture the zeitgeist. If he could try and capture what his audience is thinking, he's doing his job. "I don't think that song came about because we were trying to step out there and do something that really moved the needle. It was never intended to go in and specifically write something that was gonna stir the pot. It just came from a place of, this is on our mind. I'm 47 years old now, things change," Jason says.
I can't tell if Aldean is truly this blisteringly naive or he's playing dumb so people stop grilling him for such a record. Regardless, "Try That in a Small Town" plays a dangerous game with its social ramifications. Given the nature of Jason as a songwriter, it never asks any questions of 'why' during its runtime. Rather, It's a war cry to incite violence against any supposed lawlessness and anti American rhetoric. At best, it plays as flimsy threats from a bad country artist. At worst, it emboldens the worst kinds of people to harass anyone that doesn't look like them.
