Darkness on the edge of a small town

The country singer Jason Aldean has a No. 1 hit with "Try That in a Small Town." It's made news because Country Music Television won't play the video due to its threatening nature. Aldean is a Trump fan, so it's brought out predictable right vs. left defenses and condemnations. But it's not that simple. It's an opportunity to look at 1985 vs. 2023 and take some lessons from the relatively recent past.

In 1985, John Mellencamp sang about the subject in "Small Town." "Educated in a small town/Taught to fear Jesus in a small town/Used to daydream in that small town/Another boring romantic, that's me." He sang about friendship and family and marriage -- about roots. Too many people today think these things are unattainable, and it's killing them.

Aldean is singing about the violence that is happening in urban America. It's real. I try to at least to talk with people begging on the streets, but it's become harder. There is a harder edge of anger I've encountered. During COVID, men would grab me for simply giving them the time, getting the wrong idea from a "hello." Now, conversations often end with yelling when money is not transferred. Mental illness accounts for some of it. But anger and desperation do, too. Aldean captures some of what is undeniably going on: "Sucker punch somebody on a sidewalk/Carjack an old lady at a red light/Pull a gun on the owner of a liquor store/Ya think it's cool, well, act a fool if ya like."

And then there is the refrain: "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/For you to find out, I recommend you don't/try that in a small town."

At another point in the song, Aldean talks about a gun his grandfather gave him. Part of the reason some conservatives are defending the song is because there is plenty of other music that is violent that doesn't get pulled by anyone. The healthy answer isn't to add more anger and violence. Some of us are old enough to remember former second lady Tipper Gore, a Democrat, and former Secretary of Education William J. Bennett, a Republican, warning us about sex and violence in music and video games. They were right. And it's only gotten worse since then. No small part of the reason that young people find themselves getting abortions is because the music they listen to insisted that aggressive sexuality is the only way to have a relationship with someone of the opposite sex. Then if they are not having sex, TikTok videos tell them the solution to their normal middle-school awkwardness is puberty blockers and surgery. Our culture adds cruelty to life that is already challenging.

There's something remarkably and alarmingly cynical to responding to poison with more poison -- which is what Aldean is doing. Mellencamp sang: "No, I cannot forget from where it is that I come from/I cannot forget the people who love me/Yeah, I can be myself here in this small town/And people let me be just what I want to be." There's a gratitude about that. It leaves people better off for hearing it.

Compare that to Aldean's vision of small towns as being "Full of good ol' boys, raised up right/If you're looking for a fight." You are more likely walk away from a song like that angry and self-righteous than inspired and hopeful.

Aldean is right that cities have their challenges. I've watched more robberies in stores in the last year than ever before. But one of the other things I've seen is the obvious sadness and hopelessness that people feel -- people from both sides of the political divide, and from all economic situations.

I am sure Mellencamp and I have different politics. Indeed, when I looked him up, I found that he describes himself as a socialist. But I am grateful to that socialist for inserting some gratitude into our culture in an aspirational way. And I hope that Republican Aldean can find himself encouraging people toward the good in future songs, rather than adding to the anger and violence that already plague our time.

klopez@nationalreview.com