Maren Morris tried that in a small town. The 33-year-old country singer seemingly made a cheeky dig at Jason Aldean while teasing her upcoming music video.
Taking to Instagram on Thursday, Morris first shared a skeptical-looking photo of herself followed by the camera panning in on a sign that reads, “Welcome to Our Perfect Small Town From Sunrise to Sundown.”
The words “Small Town” are in bright red, all caps block letters and the image of the American flag is flying behind the words.
In the audio from the clip, Morris can be heard singing, “Oooo, do ya hear?”
Morris captioned the post, “I’m done filling a cup with a hole in the bottom.”
Many fans seem to think that Morris’ music video tease is a direct reference to Aldean’s controversial “Try That in a Small Town” song and music video, which was released in July.
Singer Brandi Carlile even commented, “Oh it is ON 🔥.”
Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town” was accused of promoting violence and being pro-gun and pro-lynching, and the music video was pulled from CMT.
The video was filmed in front of the massive American flag displayed on the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee — the site of the 1927 lynching of Henry Choate.
The music video is interlaced with clips of protestors vandalizing cities in the wake of police brutality and racial unrest during the height of the pandemic. It was later edited to remove the Black Lives Matter images.
Aldean also sings that “good ol’ boys, raised up right,” taking matters into their own hands by “taking care of our own.”
The country singer took to social media over the summer amid the controversy, saying, “In the past 24 hours I have been accused of releasing a pro-lynching song (a song that has been out since May) and was subject to the comparison that I (direct quote) was not too pleased with the nationwide BLM protests. These references are not only meritless, but dangerous. There is not a single lyric in the song that references race or points to it — and there is not a single video clip that isn’t real news footage — and while I can try and respect others to have their own interpretation of a song with music — this one goes too far.”
The statement continued, “As many pointed out, I was present at Route 91 where so many lost their lives — and our community recently suffered another heartbreaking tragedy. NO ONE, including me, wants to continue to see senseless headlines or families ripped apart.
“‘Try That In a Small Town,’ for me, refers to the feeling of a community that I had growing up, where we took care of our neighbors, regardless of differences of background or belief. Because they were our neighbors, and that was above any differences. My political views have never been something I’ve hidden from, and I know that a lot of us in this country don’t agree on how we get back to a sense of normalcy where we go at least a day without a headline that keeps us up at night. But the desire for it to — that’s what this song is about.”
In 2017, Aldean survived a deadly mass shooting when he was onstage at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas, where 58 concertgoers were killed and nearly 500 others injured in the tragic shooting.
Morris has a long history of tension with the Aldean family. In August 2022, Jason’s wife, Brittany Aldean, posted to Instagram thanking her parents for “not changing my gender” while she was going through “a tomboy phase.” Morris replied to the post at the time, tweeting, “It’s so easy to, like, not be a scumbag human? Sell your clip-ins and zip it, Insurrection Barbie.”
There was lots of back and forth, including Jason posting a photo of Brittany and writing, “MY Barbie.” Then Brittany appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight, where Morris was labeled a “lunatic country music person,” a title that Morris embraced. Using the moniker as a slogan, Morris created a T-shirt line that raised more than $100,000 for Trans Life Line and GLAAD’s Transgender Media Program with the shirts.
For more Morris’ ongoing drama with the Aldeans, check out the links below.
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