Merle Haggard Cancels Ink-N-Iron Festival Appearance Over Contract Dispute

Merle Haggard was slated to play at Nashville's Ink-N-Iron Festival on Friday night (Aug. 7) but pulled out of the show at the last minute due to a dispute with festival organizers.

The four-day tattoo, music and car culture festival at Nashville's Bicentennial Mall State Park featured Haggard as the top-billed performer. He kicked off the festival with a Thursday night (Aug. 6) concert, but the 78-year-old announced his decision to pull out of the festival via social media just minutes before he was supposed to take the stage at 10PM on Friday night.

“Tonight my management team advised me that the terms and conditions of my contract with Ink-N-Iron had not been met for last night’s show and would not be met by showtime tonight,” Haggard wrote on Facebook. “I place my confidence in my management team to make these decisions. I regret that I will not perform for my Nashville fans tonight. I look forward to returning to Nashville soon under better circumstances.”

Festival founder Trace Edwards tells Nashville’s Tennessean newspaper that, in order to make up for the cancellation, fans who purchased single-day wristbands for Friday’s concert would have unlimited access to all festival events for the rest of the weekend.

“While Shooter Jennings and three great bands performed on Friday night, Merle did not join the party,” Edwards says. “Ink-N-Iron will honor those holding wristbands from last evening’s show with unlimited access to the festival. This weekend, fans will have the opportunity to enjoy and discover for themselves one of the amazing 55 bands who will perform over the next two days at Ink-N-Iron. That’s the spirit of the festival. We invite everyone in Nashville to enjoy the [festival] in this beautiful setting.”

Haggard, along with longtime friend Willie Nelson released a new album, Django and Jimmie, earlier this year. It is available for purchase on Amazon and iTunes.