When Jason Aldeen followed up his dog whistle of a song, “Try That in a Small Town,” by releasing a video set at the Maury County Courthouse, the site of a 1927 lynching of a teen and a 1946 race riot, it was as if he was trying to make Morgan Wallen look like a Freedom Rider. The song’s lyrics include “Cuss out a copy, spit in his face, stomp on the flag and light it up, Yeah you think you’re tough,” followed by “Well, try that in a small town/See how far you make it down the road.” And the video splices in images of Black Lives Matters protesters.
This week, CMT dropped the video from rotation and several artists and others have come out against the video and song, with Margo Price calling Aldean “a clown” and Jason Isbell challenging him to actually write a song (“Try That in a Small Town” is credited to four different songwriters).
Today, Nashville singer/songwriter Adeem the Artist responded with a biting parody of the song on Twitter, they call “Sundown Town,” in reference to the small Southern towns that kept Black people out through violence and intimidation. “I don’t agree with the politics of Jason Aldean in any way,” they say in the intro, “but I got a call from the record execs this morning, and he’s trending really well… and I thought, ‘well, impressions is what I care about most.”
Alright I caved to my record label and did a cover of the new @jason_aldean song. Please share it around & enjoy! I love COUNTRY MUSIC! & how inclusive it is!! pic.twitter.com/RPCUyy1FiS
— Adeem the Opryist (@AdeemTheArtist) July 20, 2023