Country Music That Actually Celebrates “Small-Town” Values
Small-town living in country music is not without its murder ballads and is almost synonymous with its neverending anthems of cheating and heartbreak.
There are no perfect places. But there are better small-town songs than a costume cowboy’s thinly-veiled racist angst.
When Jason Aldean got called out for filming “Try That in a Small Town” in front of a lynching site where an innocent boy was hanged after being mobbed and murdered, instead of apologizing to his fellow Americans for, at an absolute bare minimum, lack of research and poor taste, he insisted that his song was a lamentation for community values from a bygone era.
Aldean chose not to express any compassion for the child of God who died a terrifying death by sledgehammer and mob violence. Instead of speaking with heart, like a Jesus-loving Christian should, he got defensive and focused only on his own intentions and refused to acknowledge any consequences, unintended or otherwise.
His lyrics and the accompanying video would have listeners believe geography itself determines right and wrong, with a rural bravado, and that all Americans agree on the line between good and evil, on who the bad guys and the good guys are. It completely overlooks the evidence-based facts that not everyone experiences small towns…
