Joe Diffie, one of the most popular country artists of the ’90s and early 2000s, died Sunday, March 29, from complications of coronavirus (COVID-19). He was 61.

Joe was an Oklahoma native.  He moved to Nashville in 1986.  At first finding work at Gibson Guitars and as a singer on demo sessions. Some of his chart-topping singles include “If the Devil Danced (In Empty Pockets),” “Pickup Man,” “Third Rock From the Sun,” and “Bigger Than the Beatles.” In 1993 Joe Diffie joined the Grand Ole Opry and appeared there in 2019 for the induction of Luke Combs, who cited him an inspiration. 

In 2017 we were thrilled to have the chance to see Joe Diffie live at the Green Lantern for Iconic Fest. He spent some time one afternoon on the radio with us for the Happy Hour 6 Pack and visited about how he enjoyed seeing the younger generation getting into his music. He shared with us about being named checked in a Jason Aldean song and having success working with Aaron Tippin and Sammy Kershaw on the Roots and Boots tour.

Joe was recently on the Country Gold show with Terri Clark and she will have that show on in another week. This morning at 8am we aired Joe’s  interview with us on B93.3 from 2017 with Wild Bill Satre. It is posted in it’s entirety on this blog below.

 

 

Here is my 2017 visit with Joe prior to the Iconic Fest that year:

Here is the interview with Terri Clark you will here some of this in her tribute show in a couple weeks:

The shock of Joe Diffie’s surprise passing yesterday hit the country community hard . . . and they paid their respects almost immediately.

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