As we heard the news about Joe Diffie passing away from complications from the coronavirus I step back and think about the man who brought so many people so much joy. RIP Joe Diffie
In 2013, Jason Aldean released a tribute to Diffie with his “1994,” written by Thomas Rhett, Luke Laird, and Barry Dean. At the time, Diffie said it was an honor. “It’s kind of flattering, yet uncomfortable at the same time. Talk about unexpected, you know? Someone told me that Thomas Rhett had co-written a song that mentioned me. And I thought, ’I wonder what he said about me in there?’ Because we’ve all heard songs in the past that mention Haggard or Jones, so I thought it might be something like that,” Diffie had said. “When I heard it, I was stunned. I was like. ’You gotta be kidding me.’ It’s pretty flattering they went that far with it.
“It’s one thing to hear a song title or your name mentioned, but when it started into the ’Joe. Joe. Joe Diffie’ part, that’s cool right there.”