Do we like Jason Aldean?
Our score: 3 out of 10. Real charity work sits alongside a video many heard as menacing, a blackface costume and loud Trump rally politics.
Jason Aldean is a stadium-filling country act whose career took a sharp turn in 2023. Rolling Stone calls "Try That in a Small Town" the biggest mainstream hit of his career. It also made him the face of a culture-war stoush he's been in ever since.
The song's video came out in July 2023, shot in front of a Tennessee courthouse that critics tied to the 1927 lynching of Henry Choate. Critics accused it of promoting violence against protesters. Aldean called the claims "meritless but dangerous" and denied any racism. Rolling Stone's reviewer still describes the video as "dog-whistle-laden", so where you land depends on whether you hear community pride or a threat.
Then there's 2015, when Aldean dressed as Lil Wayne for Halloween, with his face painted. In a 2016 Billboard interview he said it had "zero malicious intent" and apologised if anyone was disrespected. Plenty of people found that a thin apology, and it's a mark that keeps resurfacing.
On the harm check, the pattern is grievance politics. In 2024 he introduced Donald Trump at a Georgia rally and used the stage to complain about media coverage of his song. In 2021, according to Rolling Stone as relayed by Nicki Swift, he shared a post suggesting voter fraud after the 2020 election. He also posted "This is not how America and being free works" about a school vaccine mandate. In January 2025 he told Fox he felt "a little vindicated" after playing an inauguration event. We found no campaigning of his own against trans people or migrants in the pages we read.
The latest news is quieter. Rolling Stone's April 2026 review of his album Songs About Us found nothing explicitly political on it, a record that mostly avoids grievance politics. Separately, a landlord has alleged in court that Aldean, Luke Bryan and Adam LaRoche personally guaranteed the lease on their closed Nashville steakhouse. A rep says a resolution is being worked towards, and the court hasn't ruled.
The good stuff is real. After Hurricane Helene in 2024 he personally gave $500,000 to Samaritan's Purse and helped hand over a GoFundMe haul of more than $6.5 million. He also headlined a benefit in Macon that raised more than $618,000 for a children's hospital.