When the country music world lost Joe Diffie at just 61 years old on March 29, 2020, the late Naomi Judd said, “We lost one of the good guys today.” In addition to recording his own No. 1 hits like “Pickup Man” and “If the Devil Danced (In Empty Pockets),” Diffie also penned songs for other artists like Conway Twitty, Tim McGraw and Tracy Lawrence. On this day in 1952, Joe Logan Diffie was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
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Following in his parents’ musical footsteps, Diffie could reportedly sing harmony by the time he was 3 years old. His family moved around some before eventually setting back in Oklahoma, where he played football, baseball, and golf and ran track at high school in Velma.
Next, Diffie attended Cameron University in Lawton with aspirations to become a doctor. He eventually dropped out, keeping music on the side while he worked a number of blue-collar jobs.
Joe Diffie Got His Start as a Songwriter
Diffie opened a small recording studio while working for an iron foundry in Oklahoma. One year after making his recording debut with bluegrass band The Special Edition, the foundry laid him off. Also reeling from a divorce, the Grammy-winning artist decided now was as good a reason as any to start over in Nashville.
Arriving in Music City in 1986, Joe Diffie landed a staff songwriting job. Three years later, he scored his first major hit with Holly Thompson’s “There Goes My Heart Again.” He also contributed backing vocals to the song, which hit No. 4 on the country singles chart.
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His demo vocals for artists like George Strait and Alabama landed Diffie a contract with Epic Records in 1990. In September of that year, he released his debut album, A Thousand Winding Roads, striking gold with the lead single “Home,” which reached the top spot on the country singles chart.
The next couple of years would see more hits like “If You Want Me To,” “If the Devil Danced (In Empty Pockets),” “New Way (To Light Up an Old Flame),” “Is It Cold in Here,” and “Ships That Don’t Come In.”
Diffie won the Country Music Association’s Vocal Event of the Year trophy for his his 1992 song “I Don’t Need Your Rockin’ Chair,” recorded with George Jones, Vince Gill, Patty Loveless, and more. He died in 2020 due to complications from complications of SARS-CoV-2.
Featured image by Scott Dudelson/Getty Images for Stagecoach
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