The lyric video spotlights Percy Dale “PD” East, a newspaper reporter who was evicted from a small town for challenging the South’s racist establishment
July 23, 2023 | 10:44 p.m. ET
Jason Aldean has denied claims his latest single ‘Try That in a Small Town’ is fueling violence against leftist and Black Lives Matter protesters, despite the song containing ominous lyrics and accompanied by a music video filmed at the scene of an actual lynching. Now, a viral TikTok has uncovered a previously unreleased lyric video for “Try That in a Small Town,” which glamorizes an attack on an anti-segregationist reporter in a small Jim Crow-era Mississippi town.
In a video shared on Saturday, TikTok user dannyfcollins examined a promotional clip posted from the lyric video to Aldean’s TikTok account on May 19. By matching visible portions of text from a newspaper clipping, the Internet sleuth was able to trace the source to a May 1956 issue of the now defunct Petal Paper, based in Petal, Mississippi, which the Library of Congress has described as “a small-town newspaper with local news and advertisements.”
The press clipping used in the video appears to be from a letter to editor Percy Dale “PD” East, who, according to the Mississippi Encyclopedia, regularly “unleashed a barrage of mad satire to ridicule segregation, white supremacy, and massive opposition to integration.” In the letter, a public relations consultant for the NAACP inquired about the reaction from East’s hometown after publishing a full-page anti-segregation ad that drew national attention. In his response, East points to harassment and the loss of over 200 subscriptions.
By late 1956, and after East defiantly reprinted the ad in August, The Petal Paper had lost all of its local subscribers and advertisers, but was buoyed financially by national circulation. In 1964, the publication was forced to relocate from its original small town to Fairhope, Alabama, but eventually closed in 1972.
In his initial response, Aldean defended the single’s music video, which was filmed outside a Tennessee courthouse that was once a lynching site, by claiming that “there isn’t a single video clip that isn’t real news footage.” His response, however, doesn’t explain why he’s spotlighted the media he’s made – in this case, a nearly 70-year-old example of a small town that literally bullied an anti-segregationist il sends.
“He was disfellowshipped, spat on, threatened with violence… for trying to do that in a small town,” Dannyfcollins concluded. “He challenged the racist establishment of the South.”
Several members of the music community have spoken out against Aldean’s sad apology for a racist dog-whistle single, from Sheryl Crow to Jason Isbell.
@dannyfcollins
Thank you to my followers who tag me. I’m just saying, let’s take it seriously. To everyone who supports Jason Aldean, what else do you need to see or hear? Take responsibility and do better. #fyp #endracism #jasonaldean
♬ Original sound – Danny Collins
@jasonaldeanmusic
There’s a new one coming for you! To me, this song sums up the way a lot of people think about the world right now. It seems like bad things are happening every day, and this is unfamiliar to many of us. This song brings some light into the darkness. Listen to it! #new music #country music #jasonaldean
♬ Try this in a small town – Jason Aldean