Jason Aldean’s ‘Try That in a Small Town’ Tops Hot Country Songs Chart amid Controversy

Jason Aldean’s controversial new song “Try That in a Small Town” has hit No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart and No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The track had the largest week of sales for a country song in more than 10 years, according to Billboard.

“Try That in a Small Town” is the second song in history to re-enter the Hot Country Songs chart at No 1. It previously spent one week at No. 35 in June. The first song to pull off the feat was Chris Stapleton’s “Tennessee Whiskey,” which opened at No. 46 in May 2015 and re-entered at No. 1 later that year.

The song, which was released in May, has been quite divisive. Since the backlash broke out, CMT — which had the video in rotation for just one weekend — pulled it from its programming.

The video had 350,000 views on YouTube at the time it was pulled from CMT and now has more than 17 million views.

Last week, Sheryl Crow reacted to Aldean’s new track — which has lyrics including “Got a gun that my granddad gave me / They say one day they’re gonna round up / Well, that s— might fly in the city, good luck / Try that in a small town — in a candid Twitter post.

“@Jason_Aldean I’m from a small town. Even people in small towns are sick of violence,” Crow, 61, wrote.

“There’s nothing small-town or American about promoting violence,” she added. “You should know that better than anyone having survived a mass shooting. This is not American or small town-like. It’s just lame.”

The “All I Wanna Do” singer has been a vocal advocate for stricter gun control measures and in March performed at a vigil for victims of the mass shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, where three staff members and three students were killed.

Aldean, 46, who was present at the 2017 Route 91 mass shooting in Las Vegas, addressed the backlash just days after releasing the song’s music video, sharing a lengthy statement on social media where he explained what the song meant to him and why he finds the backlash “dangerous.”

“In the past 24 hours, I have been accused of releasing a pro-lynching song (a song that has been out since May) and was subject to the comparison that I (direct quote) was not too pleased with the nationwide BLM protests,” Aldean wrote on Twitter.

“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,” he continued.

Aldean also noted that he was performing during a 2017 mass shooting: “As so many pointed out, I was present at Route 91 – where so many lost their lives- and our community recently suffered another heartbreaking tragedy,” he tweeted. “NO ONE, including me, wants to continue to see senseless headlines or families ripped apart.”

To Aldean, “Try That in a Small Town” is about “the feeling of a community that I had growing up, where we took care of our neighbors, regardless of differences of background or belief.”

“Because they were our neighbors, and that was above any differences. My political views have never been something I’ve hidden from, and I know that a lot of us in this Country don’t agree on how we get back to a sense of normalcy where we go at least a day without a headline that keeps us up at night. But the desire for it to – that’s what this song is about,” he concluded.

The “Dirt Road Anthem” singer released the music video for the track on July 14. After its release, social media users began dissecting the controversial lyrics.

“Got a gun that my granddad gave me / They say one day they’re gonna round up / Well, that s— might fly in the city, good luck,” he sings. “Try that in a small town / See how far ya make it down the road / Around here, we take care of our own / You cross that line, it won’t take long.”

Social media users also pointed out that the music video featured a performance in front of the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee, where the 1927 lynching of Henry Choate took place. Choate was an 18-year-old Black man accused of attacking a white woman. The video also included visuals of the unrest and riots that took place during the height of the pandemic in 2020.