BobbyCast Recap: Joe Diffie Recalls His Move To Nashville, His Biggest Hits, And More
Joe Diffie has such an interesting story...
On episode #217 of his podcast, the BobbyCast, Bobby Bones sat down with chart-topping artist Joe Diffie to talk about how he made his way to Nashville, working his way up in the music industry with artists such as Trisha Yearwood and Garth Brooks, and more. On the subject of making his way to Music City, Diffie shared that he got the push to move to Nashville at age 28 when he was laid off from his job at a plant in Oklahoma.
“When I got laid off, I was like, ‘Well, you know what, I think I’m just going to try it,’” he says. “I just loaded up everything I could get in this old beat up car I had and off I went.”
Once he was in Nashville, Diffie got a job working in the warehouse at Gibson Guitars. He also lived with a few musicians, which allowed him to make contacts that eventually led to his publishing deal, and in turn, his record deal.
During those early years in Nashville trying to make it as an artist, Diffie says he crossed paths with many of the legendary artists of his generation. He knew Trisha Yearwood, T Graham Brown and Garth Brooks before they hit their big breaks. Diffie told Bobby he specifically remembers seeing something special in fellow artist Garth Brooks when he attended his showcase at Douglas Corner.
“I was sitting around, having a beer, talking to some friends of mine, and I look up, and he’s playing up there, and I saw an aura around him. I’m not kidding you.” says Diffie. “So, I started looking around the room, I thought, ‘The lights have got to be weird — there’s something weird going on here.’ I couldn’t find any reason that he had a blue aura around him.”
Once Diffie earned his record deal, he burst on scene with his debut song, “Home,” which also served as his first No. 1 hit. His debut was followed by countless other popular singles, including “John Deere Green,” “Third Rock From The Sun,” and “Pickup Man.” Diffie told Bobby he could usually tell instantly when a song would be a hit, which was the case with “Pick Up Man.” However, when he first heard a demo of “John Deere Green,” Diffie says he ‘hated it.’
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“I said, ‘Well, we can try it. We can can go into the studio and cut it, and if it doesn’t work out then we scrap it. Luckily, it worked out,” he says.
Diffie also chatted about his new project, Joe, Joe, Joe Diffie, a vinyl record featuring his greatest hits and a version of “Pride And Joy” with Marc Broussard. There are only 500 copies available and each one is autographed. Diffie is also on tour throughout 2020. To hear more from Diffie’s interview, check out episode #217 of the BobbyCast.
