Joe Diffie

by Steve Huey
Joe Diffie was regarded by many of his peers as one of the better vocalists in contemporary country, and lent his traditional sensibilities to humorous, rock-tinged novelties and plaintive ballads. Diffie was born in Tulsa, OK, in 1958 and grew up in a musical family, first performing in public at age four with his aunts country band. He played in a rock band during high school, and later moved on to a gospel quartet and, during college, a bluegrass band called the Special Edition. He worked on his songwriting and singing over the next few years while working in a foundry, and caught a break when his Love on the Rocks was recorded by Hank Thompson. When Randy Travis nearly recorded another of his songs, Diffie was convinced he had a shot in the business, and moved to Nashville in 1986. He took a job at the Gibson guitar plant while continuing to write songs, and became an in-demand demo singer as well. Holly Dunns 1989 recording of a Diffie collaboration, There Goes My Heart Again, proved a major hit, and Diffie found himself a hot commodity. He signed with Epic and released his debut album, A Thousand Winding Roads, in 1990. His first single, Home, went all the way to number one on the country charts, and If the Devil Danced (In Empty Pockets) duplicated that feat; meanwhile, two more singles from the album, If You Want Me To and New Way (To Light Up an Old Flame), reached number two.Diffie became a regular hitmaker over the rest of the 90s, and scored again with his sophomore LP, 1992s Regular Joe; Is It Cold in Here and Ships That Dont Come In both made the Top Five. Known primarily for his ballads at this point in his career, Diffie switched things up with 1993s Honky Tonk Attitude, which emphasized his rambunctious, rocking side and sense of humor, and proved to be his biggest-selling album yet. The title track, Prop Me Up Beside the Jukebox (If I Die), and John Deere Green all went Top Five. Sticking with engaging humor as the selling point of his hugely popular follow-up, 1994s Third Rock From the Sun, Diffie scored two number ones with the title track and Pickup Man, plus a Top Fiver in So Help Me Girl. 1995 brought a holiday album, Mr. Christmas, as well as a proper release in Lifes So Funny, which gave Diffie his fifth number one hit in Bigger Than the Beatles. 1997s Twice Upon a Time saw his commercial momentum slipping a bit, and so Epic issued a Greatest Hits compilation the following year; its new song, Texas Sized Heartache, returned Diffie to the Top Five. 1999s A Night to Remember was the most straight-ahead, traditional country record Diffie had yet recorded, and it gave him two Top Ten hits in the title cut and Its Always Somethin. He returned to his more established style for 2001s In Another World, which found him transferred to Sonys reactivated Monument subsidiary; its title track went Top Ten early the next year.