When Jason Aldean released the clip for his song Try that in a small town in mid-July, the controversy was instantaneous in the United States: accused of glorifying violence and racist innuendo, the singer placed country music at the heart of a new debate illustrating the divisions of American society.
The lyrics of Try that in a small town (“Try that in a small town”, Editor’s note), begin with several descriptions of violent acts. “Hitting someone traitorously on the sidewalk”, “insulting a police officer, spitting in his face”, or even “trampling the flag, setting it on fire”, lists Jason Aldean.
The American singer then issues a warning: “You think you’re tough, well, try that in a small town.” And to remember that he has a pistol “given by his grandfather”.
When it was released at the end of May, the song did not really make waves. But when the clip is released two months later, the controversy explodes. In the video, Aldean appears guitar in hand outside a courthouse in Tennessee, the site of a mob lynching of a black teenager in 1927. The town was also the scene of a race riot in 1946. On-site footage is interspersed with clips of brutal protests and robberies.
For Aldean, his song refers to “the feeling of community” in these small towns “where we take care of our own”. Like a Proust madeleine from his childhood. “Translation: Jason Aldean just wants to go back to a time in America where good little guys could kick their ass or shoot people they thought didn’t belong in their town,” protest activist Shannon Watts tweeted. gun violence in the United States. In an op-ed for CNN, historian Nicole Hemmer argues that the lyrics represent a “celebration of self-proclaimed vigilantes”, and a “claim of who has the right to make and enforce the rules”.
Jason Aldean defends himself from any racist reference or apology for violence, he who was also on stage when a shooter shot dead 58 people and injured hundreds at a festival in Las Vegas in 2017, the one of the worst mass murders in United States history. He considers for his part that the interpretation of the lyrics of his song has “gone too far”. Faced with accusations of racist innuendo, the specialized channel “Country Music Television” withdrew the clip from the airwaves, proof of the divisions within the country planet itself.
The controversy, beyond a simple song, is part of a context of “culture war” in the United States, where social issues have become so many heated topics. And country music, which the general public generally associates with a conservative image, is far from immune to these debates.
From the 1920s, certain themes were essential in the lyrics of country songs, in particular “an evangelical Christian point of view on life”, analysis with AFP Jocelyn Neal, professor in the music department at the University of Carolina North.
The country industry also gave “a strong impetus” during the 1950s to “align the music with a more conservative posture”, adds Jocelyn Neal. The decision, taken “for marketing purposes”, made “gender converge with value systems in line with those of a moderate or conservative white middle class”, glorifying in particular the commitment under the flags, underlines-t- She.
However, country music “is not a monolithic genre”, insists Jocelyn Neal, who reports “increased diversity” in recent years of artists of this musical genre, like the African-American singer Rissi Palmer.
Jason Aldean, who says he “never hid” from his conservative positions, benefited at the start of the controversy from the support of several figures on the right, including that of Donald Trump. The former Republican president and candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 called the singer on his Truth Social network a “fantastic guy”, with “a great new song”, and that he had to be “supported wholeheartedly”. “.
The call seems to have been heard: Try that in a small town found itself for several days at the top of the iTunes ranking of songs in the United States, and rose to second place on the Billboard. A success that echoes that of Morgan Wallen, a white country singer from Tennessee seen in a video in 2021 pronouncing a racist and taboo term in America … to see in the following months the sales of his records explode.
