While many in the country community have tweeted criticism toward Jason Aldean in the aftermath of “Try That in a Small Town,” Knoxville-based singer-songwriter Adeem the Artist finds that satire is a better weapon against the controversial track.
On Thursday, Adeem the Artist shared a spoof they titled “Sundown Town,” a send-up of the not-so-subtle messaging in Aldean’s single:
“I’m gonna level with you here,” Adeem the Artist (who uses they/them pronouns) said in their introduction to the track. “I don’t agree with the politics of Jason Aldean in any way, but I got a call from a record executive this morning and they said, ‘He’s trending really well, and if we wanna see some higher impressions and retweets and stuff like that, we oughta do a cover of a Jason Aldean song.’ And I thought, well, impressions is what I care about most, so let’s do this.”
Acoustic guitar in hand, Adeem the Artist sings, “We got no protesters, civil unrest/Never took a goddam COVID test/And we can all read but we don’t do it/Drivin’ trucks valued higher than a new Corvette/And we all wear boots and we love to shoot/And we root for the cops to stop people like you.”
The singer, who recently performed at the Grand Ole Opry in support of their latest LP, White Trash Revelry, later croons, “Now it’s true that I am ignorant on most of this/A couple folks for some reason called me a bigot/But I sweat a lot and I sing ‘em loud/Even though I didn’t write the shit I’m singin’ about/I just read the words and say ‘That was good’/As long as it implies a gown and hood.” (As Adeem’s lyrics coyly note, Aldean didn’t actually write the song that’s sparked his latest in a long list of controversies.)
In a statement to Variety, Adeem added, “As far as I can tell, the only culture war that exists in country music is between people who believe in a just, equitable world with a little bit of space for all of us to feel safe and welcome and those of us who are so afraid of anything remotely different, they’re willing to sing about hate crimes.”