Died March 29, 2020
Musician Nashville, Tennessee
Tara Diffie knew the songs: "Pickup Man," "John Deere Green," "A Night to Remember." They were popular in the ‘90s, when Joe Diffie was churning out country music hits in Nashville. But when she heard them, it was 2013, and Joe Diffie was playing an acoustic show in Peoria, Illinois. She learned that the songs were his and got to meet him that night after an old friend — his road manager — introduced them. Five years later, after the end of Joe's third marriage, he and Tara were wed at the Nashville Musicians Hall of Fame. "Joe wore jeans, because that man hated dress pants," Tara said. "He wore a blue shirt, because the food was barbecue and he knew he'd ruin a white shirt." Joe struggled to get his newer music on the radio, Tara said, but in the years before his death, another generation of fans was discovering him. In 2012, Jason Aldean released an ode to the musician called "1994." Last year, Chris Young name-checked him in "Raised on Country." During a show last spring at a college bar in Bloomington, Indiana, the fans were so loud that Joe had to tell them to quiet down. "I hope people listen to his songs forever," Tara said.