Jason Aldean‘s Broken Bow Records labelmate Blanco Brown isn’t a fan of “Try That in a Small Town,” but he came to the defense of the singer.
“The Git Up” singer instead targets the four men who wrote the song.
“Let’s ask the songwriters for clarity,” he tweeted.
Thursday night’s tweet follows one Brown has since deleted in which he shares his opinion of the song and Aldean.
“I hate the words to that song but I don’t believe he’s a racist,” he wrote (People captured the tweet before it was removed).
“One of the first to check on me in my time of need! Just bad song writing,” he adds, referring to the September 2020 motorcycle accident that left him in the ICU.
Kurt Allison, Tully Kennedy, Kelley Lovelace and Neil Thrasher wrote “Try That in a Small Town,” the first single from Aldean’s upcoming album. Aldean says the message describes the kind of take-care-of-your-own, small-town community he grew up in and points out there are no references to race in the lyrics.
Related: Jason Aldean Says ‘Try That in a Small Town’ Accusations Are ‘Meritless, Dangerous’
Critics of the song have accused him of promoting violence to stop violence and of racist dog-whistling or glorification of “sundown towns.” Sheryl Crow is one high profile artist who opposed Aldean’s message, but other singers like Travis Tritt have encouraged him to stand his ground.
Brown’s original tweet also alludes to a spike in streaming numbers for Aldean, something that is playing out on the real-time iTunes chart. Conversely, the video was pulled from CMT.
“Try That in a Small Town” dropped in May, just after the 2023 ACM Awards in Texas. There, Aldean performed a song called “Tough Crowd” instead.
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