‘Try That in a Small Town’ Is the Antithesis of a Rural Anthem

There is not a more romantic song, at least to my ears, than Jason Aldean’s “Night Train.” About a man who wants to take his paramour on a picnic to listen to the train go by, it reminds me of growing up in rural Kentucky. The clanging of steel, the rumbling of the freight cars, and the blaring of a horn were the soundtrack of my youth. And yes, we really did sit outside just to listen to the night train.

Aldean broke onto the country scene in 2005 with...