Jason Aldean’s song “Try That in a Small Town” has of course been making waves. Race hustlers and popularity pimps were quick to label the song as racist and executed no end of gymnastics to try and prove their hypothesis. And you know by now that CMT pulled the video from its lineup. As someone who used to work in radio and had to fill in as a jock on the country music side now and then, let me add my voice to those who have said that a hit country music song is now nothing more than a precursor to a career in pop music. So in that respect, CMT pulling Aldean’s song from rotation only strengthened his country music bona fides. In my humble opinion.
But now the word is out that Alden caved to the cultural censors and edited his video to meet the current standards and practices of those who are engaged in the kind of backbiting and upwardly mobile struggling normally reserved for cockroaches and bedbugs found in cheap motel rooms.
Jason Aldean caved under pressure and removed all the Black Lives Matter footage from his music video despite receiving an outpouring of support from conservatives. So much for that. There are no more heroes.
Gotta have it both ways by pretending to be based for that cash,… pic.twitter.com/8yw3oObc8F
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) July 27, 2023
Despite what Cheong may say, I have a feeling that Aldean knew that his days of getting invited to the Grammys were over the day the album debuted. And if he didn’t, he certainly does now. There is nothing he can do beyond seppuku to restore his image among the carrion eaters. And even then, they would dig up his corpse for a post-mortem hanging. And then they would cancel him. And hang him again. But in the music business, one sells more than one’s music. One also sells one’s soul on some occasions. And it is entirely possible that his label was frantically looking for an escape hatch rather than paying attention to actual music sales. And they got one.
TMZ reports that the Alden video used footage from a news report by Fox 5 in Atlanta. That footage shows BLM rioters and incidentally runs for all of six seconds. TMZ says that the company that produced the video contacted Fox and asked for permission to use the footage. According to the article, Fox wanted some context. In this case, the lyrics. The company sent a link to the video but not the lyrics. Roughly one week ago, Fox issued what has been characterized as a “polite ultimatum” to the production company, requesting that the footage be removed. The company complied to avoid going to court
You can still find the original version floating around on social media.
Keep his song moving. https://t.co/cz3UBWcbiI
— ZZZ (@AskMeLaterOn) July 23, 2023
Did Aldean’s video company get out over its skis and use the video without permission? It’s entirely possible. And let’s be honest: there is plenty of footage out there, and the company undoubtedly could have found someone who would have been thrilled to donate their video.
But let’s be honest about something else. Had Aldean used the footage in a video praising the violence wrought by BLM, Antifa, and various other groups, he would have been lauded as a heroic artist. And Fox wouldn’t have said a thing. Had he recorded a song that supported social justice, DEI, CRT, and trans people, it would be playing every thirty minutes on CMT. It might be played as every other video.
Aldean would have had to build another room at his house for the Grammys and other awards and accolades. He might have been nominated for a Nobel Prize in music. That category does not exist, but one would probably have been created for him. He would be performing the song on every morning show and late-night talk program in the nation. “Rolling Stone” would have needed a drool bucket to collect its slobber. And Fox wouldn’t have said a thing.
But I don’t think Hank done it that way. And Aldean didn’t choose to record that kind of song. The writers didn’t write some vapid piece of trash created in a Petri dish in a studio somewhere in California. Aldean didn’t record some bit of fluff concocted by his producers that could be easily overlaid on a video full of scenes of half-naked, barefoot women rolling around in sheets, or scenes of huge bonfires, rickety pickup trucks, or whatever else passes for window dressing in country music videos today.
He didn’t stay in his lane and record quasi-pop trash. He chose a real song that echoed the sentiments of real people of all races and backgrounds. He recorded what he wanted to record and what people wanted to hear. And that was just too much for the cultural overlords, who will tolerate nothing other than mirrors and echo chambers. Those cultural overlords wanted Garth Brooks. What they got was a real songwriter. And the truth was just too much for the Machine.
Editor’s note: an earlier version of this story claimed that Jason Aldean wrote “Try That in a Small Town.” Instead, it was written by Kelley Lovelace, Neil Thrasher, Tully Kennedy, and Kurt Allison and recorded by Aldean. We apologize to our readers for this error.
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