Credit: Jake Blucker
Country star Jason Aldean spoke to a crowd in Cincinnati about the culture of abandonment before performing his song “Try That In A Small Town.”
The track was released in May, but garnered attention when CMT began playing the music video. Online reaction to the lyrics prompted CMT to withdraw the video and prompted Aldean to release a public statement via Twitter. Critics called the song a “modern lynch song” and a tribute to sunset cities which operated throughout Jim Crow South.
“I’ve seen a lot of things that indicate this is me, that indicate this is me,” Aldean tell the crowd during his Cincinnati concert Friday night. “Hey, here’s the thing, here’s the thing — here’s a thing I’m feeling. I feel everyone is entitled to their opinion. You can think anything you want, but that doesn’t mean it’s true, does it? So what I am is a proud American, proud to be from here.”
The crowd erupted in shouts of “USA!” following Aldean’s speech on love for America and his family. He says he wants the country to go back to what it was “before all this crap happened to us”. Aldean also took the time to blow up the abandonment culture, telling the crowd, “It’s clear that a lot of country fans can see what’s happening to him.” He also said that many people had asked in advance of the concert if he would play “Try That in a Small Town” during his performance.
“I know many of you grew up like me,” Aldean continues in his address to the crowd. “They kind of have the same values, the same principles that I do, which is that we want to take our kids to the movies and not worry about some asshole walking in there and blowing up a movie theater. Then someone asked me, “Hey man, do you think you’re going to play this song tonight?” The answer is simple. People have spoken, and you have spoken very, very loudly this week.”