The songwriters behind Jason Aldean’s controversial hit “Try That in a Small Town” — Kurt Allison, Neil Thrasher, Kelly Lovelace and Tully Kennedy — have started a podcast inspired by the song.
The Try that in a small town podcast “reinforces the traditional principles that have historically shaped our nation,” according to its website. It promises to feature guests who are “catalysts for positive change, working to unite our nation.”
Early guests include Aldean himself and his wife Brittany. There will also be episodes featuring country singer-songwriter Jeffrey Steele and retired US Navy SEAL Jason Redman.
When the song was first released in late 2023, “Try That in a Small Town” was met with widespread criticism for what many listeners saw as racist sentiments and the glorification of gun-based vigilante justice.
The writers largely declined interviews about the song at the time, but with the launch of the Try that in a small town podcast, they respond to the criticism that has been received.
“We were astonished by the way people’s sensitivities made them so (antagonistic) to something very simple that we were trying to convey,” Kennedy tells the Tennessee in a new interview. He went on to say that they intended the song to be a celebration of a “common sense idea” that people should value close-knit communities where neighbors look out for each other, especially in the face of crime or violence.
Related: CMT’s Jason Aldean’s “Small Town” Video Removed Amid Outrage
The writers also note that “Try That in a Small Town” was partly inspired by the mass shooting that took place at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in 2017, an incident that remains the deadliest mass shooting by a lone gunman in U.S. history. Aldean — and several “Small Town” co-writers, who play in his live band — were onstage when that shooting broke out. Kennedy, Aldean’s bassist, was actually close enough to the shooting that a bullet struck his instrument and lodged in it, likely saving him from harm.
Kennedy also compares “Try That in a Small Town” to songs like Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American),” as a response to a historical event. (Keith wrote “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue” in 2001, partly in response to the September 11 attacks that year in the United States.)
“Like Toby, we try not to write politically charged songs,” explains Kurt Allison.
“It’s a strange time in the music industry,” Kennedy says, “because it used to be that great artists could just sing songs that they believed in and loved, that reflected what was going on in their minds. It would be a shame if we ever lost that.”
Why Was Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town” So Controversial?
- Many listeners criticized the song’s lyrics as racist catcalls and a glorification of “sundown towns,” a term referring to cities or neighborhoods where racial discrimination occurs through local laws or outright intimidation and violence.
- Listeners were particularly critical of the music video for “Small Town,” much of which was filmed in front of the Maury Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee.
- In 1927, a black man named Henry Choate was hanged outside that courthouse after being lynched and murdered by a mob.
- Critics also found it inappropriate that Aldean, particularly given his involvement in the Route 91 shooting, released a song with lyrics defending the Second Amendment that appeared to glorify gun-based vigilante justice.
- Aldean responded to the backlash in a statement, denying accusations of racism against him. He said the song is about “a sense of community I had growing up, where we cared for our neighbors, regardless of their different backgrounds or beliefs.”
Carena Liptak is an Associate Editor and staff writer at Taste of Country. She specializes in country music news, interviews, and lists. She has a particular soft spot for sad songs — check out her roundup of the 50 saddest country songs of all time!
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