Nineties country hitmaker Joe Diffie passed away Sunday in Nashville of complications from the COVID-19 coronavirus. He was 61.
It was only Friday that his family announced through his publicist that Diffie was sick. So far, they haven’t released any details or arrangements, simply asking for privacy.
The much-revered traditionalist broke onto the scene in 1990, sending his debut single, “Home,” all the way to number one. His first album, A Thousand Winding Roads, boasted three more hits, including the chart-topping “If the Devil Danced (In Empty Pockets).”
Diffie continued to be a country mainstay through the rest of the decade, sending songs like “Third Rock from the Sun,” “Pickup Man,” and “Bigger Than the Beatles” to the pinnacle of the country chart. His most recent top ten came with 2001’s “In Another World.”
The Oklahoma native won a Grammy in 1998 for his contribution to Marty Stuart‘s “Same Old Train” Collaboration.
In recent years, both Jason Aldean and Chris Young have name-checked Diffie in their songs “1994” and “Raised on Country,” respectively. An inductee of the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame, Diffie was also a member of the Grand Ole Opry for a quarter century.
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(Photo courtesy: Crystal K. Martel)