\n<\/p>\n
Jason Aldean<\/strong><\/a> continued to double down on his defense of his song \u201cTry That in a Small Town\u201d<\/a> with an argument tailor-made to his Boston fans.<\/p>\n The 46-year-old country singer took the stage<\/a> in Massachusetts on Saturday, July 29, as part of his Highway Desperado<\/em> tour and thanked his devotees<\/a> for standing by his side amid the public backlash. Before playing his controversial tune \u2014 which catapulted to the top of the charts despite widespread criticism \u2014 Aldean reflected on the strength of the Boston community.<\/p>\n \u201cI was lying in bed last night and thinking to myself, you guys would get this better than anybody, right?\u201d he said in social media footage from the concert, claiming his song\u2019s intended message<\/a> has been \u201covershadowed by all the bulls\u2013t.\u201d<\/p>\n Aldean paced across the stage as he continued: \u201cI remember a time, I think it was April of 2013, when the Boston Marathon bombings happened. You guys remember this, right? What I saw when that happened was, not a small town \u2014 a big ass town \u2014 come together. \u2026 The whole country, especially Boston, came together to find these two pricks that did that. Any of you guys that would\u2019ve found those guys before the cops did, I know you guys from Boston, and you guys would\u2019ve beat the s\u2013t out of [them].\u201d<\/p>\n Aldean argued that \u201cTry That in a Small Town\u201d is \u201cnot about race,\u201d shutting down the negative reviews<\/a> of his music. \u201cIt\u2019s about people getting their s\u2013t together [and] acting right,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re hearing from the person that made the record. Everybody is trying to tell you what I meant. They don\u2019t know what I meant.\u201d<\/p>\n The declaration was met with loud cheers<\/a> from the crowd. \u201cI know you guys are like me, you want to be able to send your kids to school and not have to worry about something happening while they\u2019re at school. \u2026 To me, that\u2019s not a racial issue,\u201d he continued. \u201cI don\u2019t give a s\u2013t what color you are. If you\u2019re acting out, burning down buildings, costing taxpayers all this money, just for you to go and show that you\u2019re pissed off, to me I just don\u2019t get that. We\u2019re just never going to see eye to eye about that s\u2013t.\u201d<\/p>\n Aldean has been at the center of controversy<\/a> since July 14 when he dropped the music video for \u201cTry That in a Small Town\u201d two months after the song\u2019s initial release. The lyrics challenge anyone to \u201cpull a gun on the owner of a liquor store\u201d or \u201ccuss out a cop\u201d in a small town and \u201csee how far ya make it down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n When the music video was first released, it included news footage from 2020 Black Lives Matter demonstrations<\/a> \u2014 but depictions of the riots have since been edited out. CMT previously pulled the video from its rotation as the online debate<\/a> continued.<\/p>\n Musicians including Sheryl Crow<\/strong><\/a> and Jason Isbell<\/strong><\/a> have taken sides in the conversation, questioning Aldean\u2019s songwriting tactics. His wife, Brittany Aldean<\/strong><\/a>, however, has been Jason\u2019s most vocal supporter<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cNever apologize for speaking the truth\u2763\ufe0f\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8,\u201d she captioned a July 18 Instagram photo with her husband after slamming the \u201crepulsive narrative\u201d<\/a> about his song.<\/p>\n