The smash-hit one” Test That in a Small Town” by country music legend Jason Aldean was that exceptional anthem, a function of pop culture that provocative social moments with such power and clearness that it became a hot button for heated debate, media gamesmanship, and prevalent projection, primarily on the part of the unhappy left, which accused the song of being racist. In other words,” Try That in a Small Town” took on a life of its own, well beyond anything its creators could have foreseen. With a new podcast ( the next episode featuring Jason Aldean himself ), the artists behind the 2023 success hope to bring some of the light back to those small American settlements that are mentioned in the song.
Country song hit musician Neil Thrasher ( Jason Aldean, Carrie Underwood, Kenny Chesney ), one of the album’s four authors, sat down with Mike Slater, number of , Breitbart News Daily on Sirius XM Patriot 125. Thrasher explained during the chat how he hopes the podcast will help them “use our products and , the ability that God gave us to help small cities” and how he hopes the podcast will be a power for” good in the world.”
One of Kelley Lovelace, the album’s co-writer and Grammy Award-nominee, Kelley Lovelace, who was watching information images of violent attack taking place in New York, including strange pedestrians being junkie punched, gave the song its concept,” Test That in Small Town.”
Thrasher compared his music lover to his own companion, who he said,” He simply got madder and madder and that name just popped into his head after he saw a few videos of those.” ” He called me and he goes,’ I do n’t think we’re playing golf today man.'”
The videos of New Yorkers being assaulted provided the song’s opening line —” Sucker punch somebody on a sidewalk” — followed by a litany of lawlessness plaguing major American cities: carjackings, robberies, riots, and assaults on police officers.
” Those images of everything that’s happening in New York City, including the flag burnings, the cop hating, and other things, just immediately came to mind,” said the title.
Country music veteran Neil Thrasher. ( Photo courtesy of Neil Thrasher )
At the same time, the songwriters sensed they were in sensitive territory.
We sat for about half the first verse, and I said,” No one is going to cut this song,” according to Thrasher. Jason Aldean is the only artist on earth who, according to what I said, would ever even attempt to do this.
Along with co- writers and , Jason Aldean Band members Tully Kennedy and Kurt Allison, they finished the song and created a , demo which they pitched to Aldean, who responded quickly.
He was prepared to release something that generated a small amount of noise and attention, Thrasher said. We simply did n’t anticipate that it would produce this much noise.
Kurt Allison ( L ) and Tully Kennedy of the Jason Aldean Band perform at the Gibson Amphitheatre on October 27, 2011 in Universal City, California, during his My Kinda Party Tour. ( Kevin Winter/Getty Images )
Following a pressure campaign from established media outlets that accused the song of being racist and pro-lynching,” Try That in Small Town” was suddenly covered in media in July.
Many outlets, especially NBC News, obsessed over shots in the music video showing the , Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee. The historic courthouse was the site of the 1927 lynching of , a black man named Henry Choate.
However, the courthouse has never caused the media’s fury by using it as a location for the filming locations for a number of movies and TV shows, including Miley Cyrus ‘ Hannah Montana: The Movie, which was filmed there.
As for the left’s accusations that the song is racist, Thrasher replied:” We are the furthest thing from racist you can get”.
The deadly 2020 Black Lives Matter riots featured in the video also preoccupied the media with the footage. The rioters ‘ race is largely unfathomable because they almost always wear masks or antifa-style face coverings. Additionally, the song itself makes no mention of race or skin tone.
Ultimately, the Streisand effect kicked in, sending the curiosity factor through the roof. The music video saw a rise in online and nbsp viewership and increased digital sales of the song.
” The song’s not a threat. It’s just the truth. It’s just common sense”, Thrasher told Breitbart News Daily.
You’re not going to see that go down in a town square in a hole in the wall in Tennessee, because that’s not going to happen, as many American cities claim. And everyone knows that. They just could n’t wait to bash the truth. We wrote the truth. And these days, the left hates the truth. They hate it”.
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The new podcast — also titled” Try That in a Small Town” — is designed to shift the focus back to the small towns,  , the people, and the values that the song praises. Thrasher said he hopes to take the podcast on the road to raise money for local municipalities, rural areas, and veterans.
He said,” Let the song literally transport us to small towns,” and that we should “use our talents and abilities to assist small towns.”
Follow David Ng on Twitter , @ HeyItsDavidNg. Have a tip? Contact me at , [email protected]
