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Sheryl Crow Hits Out At Jason Aldean’s ‘Not American’ Song ‘Try That In A Small Town’

Sheryl Crow has expressed criticism towards 'Try That In A Small Town', which has caused huge uproar directed at singer Jason Aldean.
Credit: Alamy

Sheryl Crow has expressed strong criticism towards the song ‘Try That In A Small Town’, which has caused a significant uproar directed at Jason Aldean.

The ‘All I Wanna Do’ singer, 61, has hit out at ‘You Make It Easy’ artist, 46, following the release of the music video for his brand new track.

It was uploaded to YouTube earlier this month and it has already amassed 19 million views – as well as appearing on the No. 2 spot on the Billboard Global chart.

Despite the huge view count, many of the listeners aren’t happy with the delivery of specific connotations.

Jason Aldean defends ‘Try That In A Small Town’ during his Cincinnati show…

Country Music Television decided to pull the video – which had been filmed at Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee – from its channels after backlash.

The video has now been cropped by six seconds, and no longer contains the original news clip from Fox 5 Atlanta which depicts violent confrontations during the Black Lives Matter demonstrations in 2020 and the subsequent protests.

Portions of the news reports originally appeared twice in the music video and inevitably led to disappointed viewers.

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The decision to edit the video also comes after concerns were raised about the location’s historical significance, as it was the site of the 1927 lynching of a Black teenager named Henry Choate.

The exact timing of the video’s editing remains uncertain, but it is evident that several modifications have been implemented since last week.

The song is still facing widespread criticism for using images of violent protests and riots as well as including lyrics like: “Try that in a small town, see how far you make it down the road. Around here, we take care of our own.”

Try That In A Small Town
The music video created an online media storm. Credit: Jason Aldean/Youtube

Nine-time Grammy Award winner Crow is among those who have criticised the track, and the star has even taken to Twitter to express her disapproval, quoting some of the song’s lyrics.

“I’m from a small town. Even people in small towns are sick of violence,” she wrote, tagging Aldean into the conversation.

“There’s nothing small-town or American about promoting violence. You should know that better than anyone having survived a mass shooting.

“This is not American or small-town-like. It’s just lame.”

Try That In A Small Town Music Video
Jason’s video was criticised by musician Sheryl Crow. Credit: Jason Aldean/Youtube

According to Aldean’s song, the smaller towns of the US are portrayed as places where certain behaviours like ‘car-jacking an old lady’, ‘pulling out a gun on the owner of a liquor store’, or ‘cussing out a cop’ would never occur.

However, a state Representative of Tennessee, Justin Jones, strongly criticised the track, labelling it as a ‘heinous song promoting racist violence’.

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In response to the backlash against his song, Aldean issued a statement which reads: “In the past 24 hours, I have been accused of releasing a pro-lynching song and was subject to the comparison that I 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.”

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Written by Ryan Wilks

Ryan is a former content editor at IGV who specialized in celebrity and entertainment news. He earned a degree in Magazine Journalism and Production from the University of Gloucestershire. He previously worked as a social media editor for Reach PLC’s national brands including The Mirror, Daily Express, OK! and Daily Star.