Viral Country Singer Oliver Anthony Responds to Claim He Charged Venue $120,000 for a Performance

Viral country singer Oliver Anthony and a music hall that he was supposed to perform at are going back and forth on social media.

The musician responsible for the chart-topping song “Rich Men North of Richmond” was set to perform at a Tennessee venue called Cotton Eyed Joe later this month.

However, he took to Facebook to cancel the performance because he felt ticket prices were too high. The venue was charging $99 for a ticket and $199 for a meet and greet, but Oliver said he wanted to cap ticket prices at $25.

“Ultimately, it’s my fault for not being more directly involved with the venues who have reached out. My plate has been full and I delegated the responsibility to someone else to help me book,” he wrote.

The venue responded, sharing their version of events and prompting another statement from Oliver.

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In a statement shared with Deadline, Cotton Eyed Joes alleged that Oliver was charging $120,000 for a performance.

They wrote that the musician’s manager “verbally stated Anthony requested $120,000 in compensation, plus two nights hotel accommodations.”

“Cotton Eyed Joe suggested a ticket price of $99 per ticket for the concert and a concert/meet-and-greet combo ticket at a price of $199 per ticket,” they claimed, adding that management “agreed to both the concert ticket and the concert/meet-and-greet combo ticket prices.”

The statement said that management agreed and promised to sign a contract. They asked for the venue to start promoting the performance. There was a great deal of interest in the performance.

“What happened next was very much to the surprise of Cotton Eyed Joe,” they continued. “Unfortunately, instead of Anthony coming back to Cotton Eyed Joe directly for a professional discussion about the agreement we were asked to produce specific to the terms and conditions for the September 27, 2023 concert and meet-and-greet, on the afternoon of September 11, 2023, Anthony decided to express his concerns through his social media platforms. Anthony’s statements were beyond misleading and did not at all appropriately represent the conversations that had occurred throughout the process to create a formal agreement.”

Back on Facebook, Oliver did not agree with the version that was presented by the venue.

“Cotton Eyed Joe claims we are charging people $120,000 per show. They have since turned the comments off, but I wanted to clarify. The most I’ve ever made on a show is $35,000. We’ve done two shows in NC that were completely free, and have another free show scheduled September 23rd in Kentucky for a cancer benefit,” he wrote. “My booking guy handled all of this on the phone with them. And I realize there are two sides to every story. But I personally talked with Cotton Eyed Joe on the phone about not charging extra for meet and greet. That’s why I was so upset seeing them charging $200 for it. I felt like they suckered us into playing there just so they could make extra money off of y’all.”

He also accepted fault for the situation, writing, “I should have been more thoroughly involved in the booking, and I should probably consider using a professional consultant in this area. There’s no reason why tickets should have went up for sale before a contract was signed.”

If you missed it, the musician recently cleared the air about his politics.