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Jason Aldean On The Emergence Of More Outspoken Liberal Artists In Country Music: “I Don’t Think We All Have To Agree”
Only makes sense that an actor, comedian and podcast host that’s often viewed as left-leaning and a country music star that’s a Republican talked about liberals and conservatives.
Dax Shepard is a household name thanks to some of his roles in TV shows like Parenthood and movies such as Without a Paddle and CHIPS. That being said, in recent years, the biggest thing he’s known for his undoubtedly his podcast, Armchair Expert, which he started in 2018.
Shepard’s show mainly focuses in on celebrity interviews, and the generally, he gets pretty deep on topics like family, mental health, struggles and shortcomings, and other more vulnerable points of conversation. The 50-year-old has previously shared that he has a passion for speaking with others, learning more about them, and hearing stories that could potentially help others in similar circumstances. He’s been at it for over six years, and Dax rarely ever passes on the opportunity to talk with someone interesting.
He’s been on somewhat of a roll as of late with country music artists as guests. Just a few weeks ago, country music superstar Luke Combs sat down with Dax to talk about everything that’s going on in his life. And this week, on a special Labor Day drop, Dax Shepard had Jason Aldean on his podcast.
And people got really upset about it.
Of course, Dax Shepard is often viewed as someone who leans more to the left, so it was a bit surprising to see that he had conservative country music star Jason Aldean on the program at all. But when Dax really didn’t press Jason on anything political, fans certainly did NOT like that. The comments section was quite hysterical…
Dax softly entered into the political conversation by admitting that Hollywood is “super liberal,” which is one of those things that’s pretty obvious at this point. The podcast host, who is viewed to be a liberal himself, asked Aldean about politics in Hollywood and the music industry, and the lens that he see politics through. Dax said that country music has historically been pretty conservative (which has its own nuances and is probably debatable), but in recent years, we’ve seen many more outspoken liberal country singers… Jason Isbell, Maren Morris, Kacey Musgraves and many more. Of course, Willie Nelson, the Dixie Chicks, Tim McGraw and plenty of others have been outspoken democrats for years. Like I said… it’s a bit of a generalization and we could probably differentiate artists and their individual political affiliations vs the overall political leanings of “country music” as an entity that encompasses artists, fans, adjacent brands, and the kind of marketing image that the genre holds as a whole.
But the “She’s Country” singer explained his viewpoint as this:
“I think everybody (should) feel how they want to feel. I think you do your homework and you make your own opinions. And that’s fine… I don’t think we all have to agree. But when it comes to anything, I don’t think anyone wants things shoved down their throat. Just because you believe this, doesn’t mean this is wrong.
I think that’s how it should be, and unfortunately, it gets a little muddy. I’m always open for discussion. Enlighten me, that’s my thing. Please enlighten me, tell me something I don’t know. If you can make it make sense, that’s cool. But I’m pretty firm in what I believe, and it’s gonna take a lot to change that.”
As you might imagine, the conversation quickly turned from politics to the backlash that Aldean faced with “Try That In A Small Town.” The country music star explained, once again, that there was no political motive behind that song… he just wanted to share a message of people taking care of people, and once it was out there, Aldean refused to back down:
“If I know that I’m not wrong, you aren’t going to guilt me into (anything). If I feel like I’m in the wrong, I can see that. But if I’m not, you ain’t gonna get it out of me, ever. You want everyone to like you, but if you don’t like me, you don’t like my music, you don’t like what I stand for… you’re never gonna buy tickets to a show, you’re never gonna come see me, I’m never gonna make a fan out of you. At that point, I don’t really care. You’ve already convinced yourself that you don’t like what I’m about, so I’m not gonna waste any time worrying about it.”
Fair enough.
You can hear more from Jason Aldean in the latest episode of Armchair Expert linked below:
The post Jason Aldean On The Emergence Of More Outspoken Liberal Artists In Country Music: “I Don’t Think We All Have To Agree” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.
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