Jason Aldean revealed that crew members who badmouthed him and his polarizing 2023 single “Try That in a Small Town” while on his tour are no longer employed by him.
The admission came during a Monday, July 27 appearance on the Try That in a Small Town podcast, hosted by the song’s co-writers Kurt Allison, Kelley Lovelace, Neil Thrasher, and Tully Kennedy — several of whom also play in Aldean’s touring band. Longtime Aldean tour manager Jake LaGrone was also a guest. Together, the group reflected on what it was like to work through a politically charged moment with a crew that wasn’t always unified behind the song.
Aldean on Why Those Employees Had to Go
While no one on the podcast used the word “fired,” the implication was clear. Aldean was careful to draw a distinction between crew members who simply disagreed with the song’s message and those whose conduct crossed a line. In his telling, the problem was employees openly criticizing him while benefiting directly from his operation.
“When you’re riding around on a tour bus that I’m paying for for you, and I’m feeding you three meals a day every day, and a paycheck to pay your rent or whatever it is,” Aldean said, “and you’re out there on those buses, in our catering, and you’re badmouthing me and our crew? You gotta go. You gotta go.”
Bassist Tully Kennedy described the atmosphere that division created, calling it “a really bad disconnect between artist and band and working crew, and then within the crew.” He noted the contrast with how things stand now: “I can’t wait to get in the venue because everything’s firing, everyone’s one unit. But a couple bad seeds…”
The Controversy That Surrounded the Song
The internal tension Aldean and his bandmates described mirrored a much larger public debate. Released in 2023, “Try That in a Small Town” ignited significant backlash after its music video dropped — much of it filmed at Tennessee’s Maury County Courthouse, a site connected to a fatal 1927 lynching. Critics accused the song of trafficking in racist imagery, evoking sundown towns, and glorifying vigilante violence. CMT pulled the video from its rotation amid the uproar, and Aldean responded with a statement dismissing those accusations as “meritless” and “dangerous.”
The controversy ultimately amplified the song’s reach rather than diminishing it. “Try That in a Small Town” climbed to number one on the country charts and became Aldean’s first-ever entry at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. The podcast revisiting that moment suggests the song — and everything it stirred up — remains very much part of the ongoing conversation around Aldean’s career.
