McGarrity In More Trouble Over Ads

Another act has accused Irish country music promoter James McGarrity of advertising an appearance that was never confirmed.

Irish country star Mick Flavin, who is celebrating his 25th year of touring, says he’s “definitely not” playing McGarrity’s CountryFest 2012.

“I was furious when I saw the poster with my picture on it and my name saying that I would be appearing at the festival,” Flavin told the Irish Independent newspaper.

“This is not the first time James McGarrity has done this to me. He did the same thing three years ago for a concert at the Ulster Hall in Belfast, including me on promotional posters despite being told repeatedly by me that I would not be there.

“I have told him half a dozen times to stop using my name for this concert but he has not responded, so finally I contacted the venue and told them,” Flavin said.

CountryFest is in danger of not happening at all, as Michael Naughton, the manager of the Clanree Hotel in Letterkenny where the event is staged, says everything is “on hold” until McGarrity assures him of who has agreed to appear. McGarrity has said he still intended to promote the annual festival.

“The poster was provided to us by Mr McGarrity and we had no reason to believe any of the information was incorrect until we were contacted by artists who said they were not booked to appear and would not be appearing,” Naughton explained.

McGarrity was last year ordered to pay euro 80,000 ($107,000) in libel damages to country star Johnny McEvoy.

He was also ordered to pay the singer’s manager euro 100,000 ($134,000) at the High Court in Dublin after falsely saying McEvoy would appear in another concert he was promoting.

His JW Promotions Ltd. was wound up in the Belfast High Court Dec. 8, following a legal battle with River Run Records in Nashville, Tenn.

Earlier last year the Independent revealed that McGarrity was involved in clashes with a string of top acts including Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan, Vince Gill and Stella Parton, the sister of Dolly Parton.

They all said McGarrity billed them as headline acts for concerts around Ireland even though they weren’t booked to play.