Joe Diffie, a Nashville native who rose from humble beginnings laboring in oil fields and foundries to become a hugely popular country musician in the early to mid-1990s, passed away on Sunday. In years, he had lived to 61.
Scott Adkins, who was his publicist, reported his death as a result of complications caused by the coronavirus. On Friday, Mr. Diffie had come clean about his treatment for the disease.
Mr. Diffie, whose performances had an air of charming sarcasm and whose thick mane of blond hair cascaded down his back like ethereal flames, was the perfect fit for the raucous party era that country music was entering at the turn of the 1990s.
His crisp, tender voice was showcased on ballads like as “Is It Cold in Here” and his 1990 debut hit “Home,” which went on to become one of five of his singles to top the Billboard country chart. He managed to get twelve further singles into the country Top 10.
On the other hand, he had a knack for a mischievous, spirited anarchy that fueled his most popular songs. “Honky Tonk Attitude” (1993) and “Third Rock from the Sun” (1994), his third and fourth albums, respectively, were platinum-certified and significantly influenced by this style. His previous two albums were also certified gold.
His 1994 single “Pickup Man” peaked at number one on the Billboard country singles chart for a total of four weeks. Not only was it a subtly humorous song about sexual desire, but it was also a wildly proud declaration of pride about boys and the vehicles that make them feel good about themselves. It was the song that made the most of all of his abilities.
He jokingly dipped and bent his words to emphasize points while singing “Pickup Man,” which he varied between plain and direct. “You can set my truck on fire and roll it down a hill/and I still wouldn’t trade it for a Coupe de Ville,” he sang, adding, “I met all my wives in traffic jams/There’s just something women like about a pickup man.”
No. 1 hit “Third Rock From the Sun” featured a carefree montage of countryside adventures on the title track. This honky-tonk hymn, “Leroy the Redneck Reindeer,” was on his 1995 holiday CD.
In his song “Prop Me Up Beside the Jukebox (If I Die)”—whose music video featured a healthy dose of “Weekend at Bernie’s”-style antics—Mr. Diffie shrugged and raised an eyebrow as he sang, “Just let my headstone be a neon sign/Just let it burn in memory of all of my good times.”
The son of Joe and Flora Diffie, Joe Logan was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on December 28, 1958. His mom was a teacher and flower shop owner; his dad worked a several jobs before becoming country music sensation Toby Keith’s tour bus driver. Mr. Diffie spent his formative years in Oklahoma, where he returned after a series of moves.
Starting out in his aunt’s country band, he went on to play in rock, gospel, and bluegrass bands when he was a kid. Among his early compositions was the 1980s hit “Love on the Rocks,” which Hank Thompson recorded. Moving to Nashville not long after, Mr. Diffie spent some time there penning songs and recording demos.
In 1990, he signed with Epic Records after singing background on a Holly Dunn recording of one of his songs. Shortly after, he had his first No. 1 country hit. Songs written by Mr. Diffie have been covered by Tim McGraw (“Memory Lane”) and Jo Dee Messina (“My Give a Damn’s Busted”). This was even during his singing career.
Mr. Diffie’s vocals on the multi-star hit “Same Old Train” brought home the Grammy for best country collaboration in 1998. In addition to releasing albums in the aughts and aughts, he started hosting a radio show on KXBL, a country station in his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma, last year.
Family members who have passed away include Mr. Diffie’s mother, wife Tara Terpening Diffie, four sons (Parker, Travis Humes, Drew, and Tyler), three daughters (Kara, Kylie, and Reaux Terpening), two sisters (Monica Stiles and Meg Prestidge), and four grandkids. Divorce was the outcome of Mr. Diffie’s first three marriages.
His successful brand of power country is seeing a renaissance as of late. On Hardy’s 2013 single “Country Junkie,” Mr. Diffie sang a duet with Gord Bamford of Canada, crooning, “I don’t think they’ve got rehab for being a good ol’ boy.” Last year, he co-starred with Trace Adkins on Hardy’s “Redneck Tendencies.”
On the other hand, Mr. Diffie’s impact was most visibly seen in 2013 with the release of the single “1994” by country music superstar Jason Aldean, which included numerous references to Mr. Diffie’s music and work.
One of the dancers in the video has a “Teach Me How to Diffie” t-shirt, a pun on the popular “Teach Me How to Dougie” dance move and a reference to Mr. Diffie’s rather ungainly stage shimmy.
Singing “Joe, Joe, Joe Diffie!” to the camera, the video features snippets of nearly every country singer of the 2010s, including Luke Bryan, Lady Antebellum, Dierks Bentley, Florida Georgia Line, and many more. Mr. Diffie’s last album, which came out in 2019, was named after that refrain.
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