The country music artist spoke about the song and music video that sparked backlash on the ‘Coop’s Rockin’ Country Saturday Night’ podcast

Jason Aldean is continuing to defend his controversial song “Try That in a Small Town,” which has been accused of promoting gun violence and racism in its lyrics and music video.

The country music artist, 46, appeared on the Wednesday episode of the Audacy podcast Coop’s Rockin’ Country Saturday Night and reflected on the viral song and video. He shared why he felt he had to release the track and stands by its message, despite the criticism it’s received.

“If you’ve got common sense, you can look at the video and see, I’m not sayin’ anything that’s not true,” Aldean said of the visual, which features footage of unrest that took place during 2020 and was filmed in front of the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee where a Black man, Henry Choate, was lynched in 1927.

“In the video, I’m showin’ you what happened — I didn’t do it, I didn’t create it — it just happened, and I saw it, and I’m not cool with it,” the country singer told host Coop.

The singer-songwriter explained that he felt compelled to release the song — which includes lyrics urging those who might “cuss out a cop” or “stomp on the flag” to “Try that in a small town / See how far ya make it down the road” — after seeing what he felt was “wrong.”

“I don’t care which side of the political fence you want to stand on, but to me, what I was seeing was wrong, and nobody would say anything, especially in the music industry or entertainment industry,” Aldean said. “It just kind of reaches a breaking point to where you’re like, ‘Somebody needs to say something, and if nobody’s gonna do it, then I’ll be the guy.’”

The “She’s Country” singer noted, “Country music is blue-collar music, it’s for every man out there, and that was always my thing — it’s like, I feel like this.”