In a Song of the Summer, Clues for January in Iowa

The Run-Up

The New York Times

News Commentary, Politics, News

4.4 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 28 December 2023

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Last summer, politics, country music and cultural grievance collided with the growing popularity of a new song from recording artist Jason Aldean. In the lyrics, Aldean lists behaviors he associates with cities, like lawlessness and disrespect for the flag or the police. And then he warns listeners of the consequences if they “try that in a small town.” The song quickly hit the country music charts. Then, the music video was released. In it, images of Aldean singing alternate with newsreel footage of looting, violence and scenes from the racial justice protests that took place during the summer of 2020. The video was quietly edited to remove some of the more contested footage, but the battle lines had already been drawn. The song quickly gained popularity on the political right. And Republican primary candidates, including Donald Trump, began praising Aldean and playing the song at their events. And so as we were thinking about how to understand the G.O.P. presidential primary, we saw that Jason Aldean would be performing at the Iowa state fair. And we knew we had to go.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm not a big country music fan, but I am a political reporter.
0:05.2	And this August, in the GOP primary, those two things collided.
0:09.5	Sook a punch somebody on the sidewalk carjacking old lady at a red light.
0:16.4	With Jason Al-Dines, try that in the small town. cross that line it won't take long for you to find out I recommend you don't try
0:27.8	that in a small town. In the song Al-Din lists off behavior he associates with cities, like crime and disrespecting the flag and police officers.
0:40.0	And then he warns people of the consequences, if they quote, try that in a small town.
0:45.8	He sings, got a gun that my granddad gave me.
0:49.6	They say one day they're going to round up.
0:52.4	Well, that shit might fly in the city.
0:55.1	Good luck.
0:56.3	Try that in a small town.
0:58.7	The song quickly hit the country music charts.
1:01.6	Then, Al-Din released the music video.
1:04.0	One of the most popular country music hits of the summer is Try That in a
1:08.9	small town. But the song has ignited controversy and faced backlash from fans who say the lyrics encourage racism and violence.
1:17.5	In the video images are projected on a building, some showing clips of protests, looting and tense police encounters.
1:24.6	The video includes footage of violent protests and vandalism and was filmed in part at a courthouse
1:29.7	in Tennessee, which was the scene of race rights in 1946 and where a black man was lynched in
1:35.6	1927. In the video shots of Al-Din singing alternate with newsreel of various crimes, violence, and rioting in cities.
1:45.8	It also included images from racial justice protests during the summer of 2020.
1:50.6	The music video was just pulled from country music television because of imagery that critics say has racist
1:55.5	undertones and promotes violence. Many public figures like
	...

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