Smoking Country Gets Fightin’ Hot

Tracy Lawrence

The Smokin’ Country Concert (8/5,6,7) in Bloomville, Ohio got a bit hotter than promoters imagined after rain, mud and a stuck bus contributed to a fistfight between Tracy Lawrence and promoter Elmer Cole Jr. who also owns Cole Farms, the concert site.

According to the Advertiser-Tribune, “Seneca County Sheriff Bill Eckelberry said there was a misunderstanding between Elmer Cole Jr., the concert’s promoter, and Tracy Lawrence, one of the performers.”

Both Cole and Lawrence were charged with disorderly conduct, taken to Mercy Tiffin Hospital and released. According to one witness, there were problems getting Lawrence’s bus out of the mud right away which may have been what sparked the fight.

The venue is said to hold up to 30,000 people, but estimated ticket sales were pegged below 5,000. Rain forced Lawrence to cancel the last song in his set and Randy Houser, scheduled to perform after Lawrence, was canceled completely.