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Fee Problems Mar Country Fest

May 23, 1989|STEVE HOCHMAN

Country singer T. Graham Brown left the Country Fest '89 at the Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area in Irwindale without performing Sunday after the event's promoter was unable to pay the singer's contracted fee, the promoter acknowledged Sunday. Several other musicians were also not paid in full, but agreed to perform after getting partial payment.

Promoter Milt Petty blamed his lack of funds during the event to poor turnout (a two-day total of 18,000 compared to more than 70,000 last year) and the "withholding" of some of the promised corporate sponsorship money.

A spokesman for Miller Brewing Co., the event's primary corporate sponsor, said on Monday that half of the promised funds were delivered before the concert began on Saturday and the remainder was delivered Sunday night upon the event's conclusion. Neither Miller nor Petty would disclose the amount.

"You don't want to let the people down," Brown said by phone from his Nashville home Monday. "That was my first concern. This is the first time since I've been making records that I haven't gone on . . . It's a no-win situation for the artist."

Rodney Crowell performed after settling for transportation costs, according to Crowell's road manager, Lin Smith. Crowell, who engaged in a tense backstage conversation with Petty before agreeing to perform, said he felt uneasy about going on stage after his friends Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt told him that they had not been fully paid for Saturday's appearances.

"Every promoter thinks he's going to have a good walk-up business," a dejected Petty said late Sunday. "We thought word-of-mouth would be enough to bring people."

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