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I'm not much of a country music fan anymore, but I've at least heard of Jason Aldean. Apparently one of his latest tunes got leftists all twisted up. 

Country singer Jason Aldean released a new music video this week touting how small towns wouldn't put up with the kind of riots and lawlessness many cities across the country faced during the summer of 2020.

With lyrics warning violent criminals, as well as those who disrespect law enforcement and the American flag to "try that in a small town," Aldean sings, "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."

Footage from smash and grab robberies and cities burning during the 2020 riots are shown in the background of the new music video for "Try That in a Small Town." The song's tough stance on crime and pro-Second Amendment messaging upset some liberals, who voiced their complaints on Twitter.

Some progs have indicated that the lyrics to this song is full of "racist dog whistles." That actually says more about leftists than it does Aldean when the proggies believe Aldean is referring to black people when he warns against rioting and looting. In fact, I would daresay it was lily white Antifa thugs who were at the epicenter of the looting and violence that occurred in the summer of 2020, but that's something the left would rather not discuss.

Some even went so far as to suggest that the filming location of the song's video was driving home a nefarious message. 

 

Jason Aldean shot this at the site where a white lynch mob strung Henry Choate up at the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tenn., after dragging his body through the streets with a car in 1927.

That's where Aldean chose to sing about murdering people who don't respect police. https://t.co/gBL7FlaBS2 pic.twitter.com/eGfmMc8HAI

— Ashton Pittman (@ashtonpittman) July 17, 2023

While the optics certainly aren't great, it's quite a leap to suggest that a singer singing about defending his small town can be conflated with lynching a person solely because of the color of their skin. And Mr. Pittman might also have a point if that location wasn't, y'know, frequently used as a backdrop. 

 

As the music video's production company correctly pointed out in a statement, the site is a ”popular filming location outside of Nashville."

The Columbia courthouse is indeed frequently used for video productions, such as Mario Lopez's movie "Steppin' into the Holiday." Even Miley Cyrus' "Hannah Montana: The Movie" was filmed at the famous location, which featured prominently in the film several times.

"Any alternative narrative suggesting the music video’s location decision is false," production company Tacklebox told Fox News.

Bottom line is no one is inciting violence here. The message of Aldean's song is people choose to live their lives in peace and thus don't want their neighbors to suffer any unnecessary loss over issues in which they had no culpability. In short, don't wake a sleeping giant.

True to one lyric in Aldean's song, his supporters "took care of their own."

 

The controversy has caused the opposite effect critics may have intended, however, as Aldean's single shot to number one on iTunes charts while also topping the platform's video rankings and showing up on YouTube's trending music videos page.

As usual, few people are buying what these maniacal, pearl-clutching progs are trying to sell. 

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