Maren Morris Teases Video Taking Aim at That Small Town Jason Aldean Was Boasting About
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Sugarcoating her opinion isn’t Maren Morris’ style, and neither is biting her tongue. While teasing a new music video on Instagram, the country singer appeared to take aim at Jason Aldean and the small town of gun owners and potential racists he boasts about on the controversial single “Try That in a Small Town.” In the clip, the camera locks in on a billboard introducing the set of the video: “Welcome to Our Perfect Small Town From Sunrise to Sundown.”
In the caption of the post, Morris wrote: “I’m done filling a cup with a hole in the bottom.”
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The town in the video seems to be a small-scale model replica, complete with plastic trees, fake-looking mountains in front of an equally fake-looking blue sky, and a tiny red car parked outside of a home with uneven shutters. It’s a stark contrast to the backdrop Aldean used for his music video: the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee, where Henry Choate was lynched in 1927.
The “Try That in a Small Town” video was pulled from CMT days after its July release in response to criticism of its apparent promotion of white nationalism and painting protests about racial issues as lawless and violent. The video was also removed from YouTube before being re-uploaded to reflect the removal of footage gathered from Black Lives Matter protests.
Country music has become the dominating genre of the summer, mostly through innocuous releases from artists like Luke Combs, Zach Bryan, and Kasey Musgraves. But on the other side of that has been Morgan Wallen’s controversy-burying chart domination that seemingly swept away most lingering memories of him being captured on video using a racial slur in 2021. Then there’s Aldean’s weird sundown town song and Oliver Anthony’s surprise viral hit “Rich Men North of Richmond,” which similarly to “Try That in a Small Town” received support from conservative influencers.
Morris herself has sparred with both Aldean and his wife Brittany in the past over their controversial stances on trans rights. Last year, after Brittany shared a transphobic post on Instagram, Morris bit back: “. “Sell your clip-ins and zip it, Insurrection Barbie.” A week later, after Aldean tried and failed to defend his wife, his longtime Nashville publicity firm announced that it would be ending its relationship with him.
In the comments of Morris’ Instagram post, the stage is set for another round. “Oh it is ON 🔥,” Brandi Carlile wrote.
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