Overview

• Country singer Jason Aldean defended his song, 'Try That in a Small Town', against allegations of promoting racism and gun violence, stating it aimed to highlight lawlessness and disrespect for law enforcement.
• Amid the controversy, Aldean admitted that had he known about the history of the Tennessee courthouse featured in the song's video — a location infamous for a racially-charged lynching in 1927 — he would have chosen a different filming location.
• The lyrics and visual content of 'Try That in a Small Town', which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, drew both wide-scale criticism and support, becoming Aldean's most controversial and commercially successful song to date.
• Despite assertions that the video for 'Try That in a Small Town' did not target any specific racial group, CBS Mornings anchor Jan Crawford described the video as conveying racist undertones and projecting a threatening message for Black people.
• Though Aldean maintains his intentions behind the song and its video were misinterpreted, he expressed a potential openness to re-evaluate the selected settings for his videos in future, acknowledging the importance of context and history.