Sheryl Crow joined the conversation about Jason Aldean’s new controversial song “Try That in a Small Town,” saying he should know better.
Aldean, 46, has been accused of promoting violence with his latest song, which includes the inflammatory lyrics: “Got a gun that my granddad gave me / They say one day they’re gonna round up / Well, that s–t might fly in the city, good luck/Try that in a small town.”
As a small-town girl herself, Missouri native Crow, 61, called out the country singer for putting out false impressions.
“@Jason_Aldean I’m from a small town. Even people in small towns are sick of violence.There’s nothing small-town or American about promoting violence. You should know that better than anyone having survived a mass shooting,” she tweeted.
“This is not American or small town-like. It’s just lame.”
The tweet the singer-songwriter quoted pointed out that Aldean was in a mass shooting himself in 2017 at a Las Vegas concert that killed 60 people and injured over 400.
CMT pulled the music video for “Try That in a Small Town” — which sees Aldean performing in front of a courthouse known for lynchings — was pulled from CMT programming following the backlash.
He sings in the first verse: “Sucker punch somebody on a sidewalk / Carjack an old lady at a red light / Pull a gun on the owner of a liquor store / Ya think it’s cool, well, act a fool if ya like.”
He continues: “Cuss out a cop, spit in his face / Stomp on the flag and light it up / Yeah, ya think you’re tough.”
The “Dirt Road Anthem” singer defended himself against the accusations, writing in a statement posted to Twitter, “In the past 24 hours I have been accused of releasing a pro-lynching song (a song that has been out since May) and was subject to the comparison that I (direct quote) was not too pleased with the nationwide BLM protests. These references are not only meritless, but dangerous.”
“There is not a single lyric in the song that references race or points to it- and there isn’t a single video clip that isn’t real news footage -and while I can try and respect others to have their own interpretation of a song with music- this one goes too far.”
The music video features footage from protests, including BLM protests, and shows Aldean standing in front of an American flag draped over the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee — which is where the 1946 Columbia race riot occurred.
The riot almost led to the lynching of Thurgood Marshall, the first black Supreme Court justice, and the city was also the side of the lynching of 18-year-old Henry Choate in 1927.
In his statement, Aldean added, “Try That In A Small Town, for me, refers to the feeling of a community that I had growing up, where we took care of our neighbors, regardless of differences of background or belief. Because they were our neighbors, and that was above any differences.”
“My political views have never been something I’ve hidden from, and I know that a lot of us in this Country don’t agree on how we get back to a sense of normalcy where we go at least a day without a headline that keeps us up at night. But the desire for it to- that’s what this song is about.”
