HARDY Reveals Details About Joe Diffie-Inspired Project After CMA Tribute

HARDY’s ongoing installment of collaborations is taking on a new spin in early 2024. The award-winning singer-songwriter revealed backstage at the 57th annual CMA Awards on Wednesday evening (November 8) that HIXTAPE Vol. 3 will be called DIFFTAPE, in honor of late singer-songwriter Joe Diffie, who died in 2020. He was 61.

The DIFFTAPE announcement comes after HARDY joined forces with Morgan Wallen and Post Malone on the Bridgestone Arena stage in Downtown Nashville, Tennessee. The trio performed a tribute to Diffie, his early 1990s hit “John Deere Greene,” followed by “Pickup Man.” Luke Bryan, who returned to host the show with NFL star Peyton Manning, introduced the trio to the stage with Diffie’s eldest son, Parker Diffie.

“Very, very long story short, most of you guys are probably familiar with my HIXTAPE thing, and so, by the grace of God, HIXTAPE No. 3 is going to be a little bit different. It’s gonna be called DIFFTAPE,” HARDY announced to news outlets backstage at the CMA Awards, after winning two honors that day (Musical Event of the Year and Music Video of the Year for “wait in the truck,” featuring Lainey Wilson). “We have gotten a hold of all of Joe Diffie’s old recordings from (a 2006 studio session) and...we have basically done what we do with HIXTAPE and we’ve taken some of Joe’s vocals out and all that and we’ve added some of the biggest singers in country music to help him sing some of his biggest hits, and you saw two of those tonight… It’s called DIFFTAPE, and it’s gonna be bada** and I’m really excited about it.”

Diffie was featured on HARDY’s first HIXTAPE installment in September 2019. The second installment followed in 2021. Those two collections included collaborations with Dustin Lynch, Trace Adkins, Thomas Rhett, Keith Urban, Mitchell Tenpenny, Lauren Alaina, Dierks Bentley, Jon Pardi, Scotty McCreery, Brothers Osborne, Chase Rice and many others. DIFFTAPE will use 2006 master recordings of the late country star’s greatest hits, along with new recordings from some of the genre’s biggest artists, per a press release issued after the show.

The Diffie Estate said in the Big Loud release that they’re “thrilled” to team up with HARDY “in preserving and revitalizing Joe Diffie's musical legacy. With their shared excitement and passion, this collaboration promises to carry on the incredible journey of a true legend.”

“I'm super excited about DIFFTAPE. I think it's a one-of-a-kind project and we're the first people to do something like this,”  HARDY said in a statement. “Especially having the (2006) recordings and the fact that we have his family's blessing to do it, it's all really special.”

“Joe epitomized the '90s country voice – he was so good about hearing and cutting hits, recording amazing songs,” he continued. “On a personal level, I only got to meet Joe once, but he was extremely nice to me, and this was in my first year of being an artist when I was an absolute nobody. He was so, so kind to me and that memory I have of him is truly special to me, too.”

The announcement and tribute performance comes as “John Deere Green” marks its 30th anniversary, the release noted. DIFFTAPE is set to release on March 29, 2024. Watch HARDY’s tribute performance with Wallen and Malone again here: