IN THE MUSIC BUSINESS, FOX NEWS COUNTRY IS HAVING A MOMENT

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Thursday, July 20, 2023

IN THE MUSIC BUSINESS, FOX NEWS COUNTRY IS HAVING A MOMENT

I almost feel sorry Austin Moody. Moody is a country singer who released a song a few months ago called "I'm Just Sayin'." The song fits in a genre I call "Fox News country." It isn't just right-wing -- it's built around incidents that get recurring coverage on Fox News and other right-wing media outlets. A sample of the lyrics:

They’ve torn Portland all to pieces

And let Chicago go to hell

There’s people leaving New York City

Like they rang the fire bell

Well they call themselves enlightened

But cancel those who don’t agree

I wish all these folks

Who claim they’re woke

Would just go back to sleep

Portland? Still? Yeah, Noody is still upset about unrest in Portland in 2020, presumably because the libs care more about a silly old attempt to overthrow the government in D.C. a few months later.

Recording a Fox News country song got Moody to the Top Five on the iTunes country chart. It got him several feature stories at Breitbart and coverage on NewsMax.

But Austin Moody is no Jason Aldean. Aldean is a country superstar with 23 #1 songs. He recently released a Fox News country song called "Try That in a Small Town," and it's a much bigger hit. What's interesting about this song is that it's essentially about the experience of having no firsthand knowledge of the things that make you angry. The implicit message is: I haven't personally been affected by any of these disgusting things I see on the news, but if you try to do those things where I come from, people like me will shoot you or beat the shit out of you.

From the lyrics:

Sucker punch somebody on a sidewalk

Carjack an old lady at a red light

Pull a gun on the owner of a liquor store

Ya think it's cool, well, act a fool if ya like

Cuss out a cop, spit in his face

Stomp on the flag and light it up

Yeah, ya think you're tough

Well, try that in a small town

See how far ya make it down the road

'Round here, we take care of our own

You cross that line, it won't take long

For you to find out, I recommend you don't

Try that in a small town

Possibly to ensure that the song ewas controversial, Aldean filmed the video in front of the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee, where Henry Choate, an 18-year-old Black man, was lynched in 1927.

Aldean is a bigger star than Moody, and he seems to have been trying just a little bit harder to get canceled. It's working. Country Music Television pulled the video for the song, and now it's #1 on the charts. Fox News has covered Aldean relentlessly, running thirteen stories about the song in the past four days. Aldean is being defended by Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Lauren Boebert, Kristi Noem, and Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

You won't be surprised to learn that Aldean and his wife have been right-wing trash for a while. In 2021, the singer defended his wife after he appeared with her in an Instagram photo in which she wore a shirt with the slogan "Anti Biden Social Club." This was accompanied by a photo of their two- and three-year-old kids, Navy and Memphis, wearing "Hidin’ from Biden" shirts. Fox News reported, "The clothes are sold at a website called DaddyT45, an obvious reference to former President Donald Trump."

Last year, Aldean's publicity firm cut ties with him after his wife posted an anti-trans Instagram message to promote her beauty line. Britt Aldean posted a video clip in which she put on makeup accompanied by the message “I’d really like to thank my parents for not changing my gender when I went through my tomboy phase. I love this girly life.” Facing criticism for this, she doubled down in a subsequent post:

“Advocating for the genital mutilation of children under the disguise of love and calling it ‘gender-affirming care’ is one of the worst evils. I will always support my children and do what I can to protect their innocence. The other day Memphis wanted to be a dinosaur and tomorrow Navy will want to be a cat. They’re children. Some parents want to be accepted by society so badly. That they’re willing to make life-altering decisions for their children who aren’t old enough to fully comprehend the consequences of those actions. Love is protecting your child until they are mature enough as an adult to make their own life decisions. Thankful my parents allowed me to go through my tomboy phase without changing my gender. Until then, leave children alone!”

It's no surprise to learn that Jason Aldean has played the Mar-a-Lago New Year's Eve party for the last two years.

With a few exceptions -- Lee Greenwood's pseudo-hymn "God Bless the USA," maybe -- right-wing country songs don't have an enduring cultural impact. But they're likely to be hits, so there'll be a lot more of them. Right-wingers think the NFL and the FBI are "woke" these days, so I suppose it's no surprise that they believe that a successful right-wing country song is a blow against the liberal empire.