Joe Diffie: In Concert -Chattanooga, TN Review

On June 7, 2009, right smack in the middle of Chattanooga's huge annual two week music-fest, "Riverbend", a thousand or so people chose to ignore the teeming masses down by the river watching Three Dog Night for another venue.  A man who hasn't had a song on country radio in 5 years was giving a benefit concert for the local firefighter's association at the Soldiers & Sailor's Memorial Auditorium in downtown Chattanooga, TN.    But, it wasn't just any old has-been singer.  No sir, this concert was being put on by Mr. Joe Diffie, Opry member, owner of 5 number one country singles, 2 platinum albums and as good a country singer as you will find.  Anywhere.  There seems to be a perception in this country that  just because an artist isn't currently on radio or releasing new material he's irrelevant.  That perception, as a thousand plus people understood this night, is wrong.

For a man who currently has no hit songs on the radio, Diffie was sure met with unbridled enthusiasm as the man dubbed by none-other than Vern Gosdin as "the man with the golden voice" entered stage left and immediately ripped into one of his more popular novelty songs, Third Rock from the Sun, with guitars and keyboards a blazin'.   Joe looked like he hasn't missed too many meals lately, but that didn't stop him from bringing some energy to town with him and it wasn't long before he had the crowd on their feet and dancing at their seats.  Crowd-pleasers, not to mention hits, like C-O-U-N-T-R-Y, If the Devil Danced in Empty Pockets, and John Deere Green, all served to put the fans in a rowdy mood and induced many of them to rush to the stage for photos and handshakes.

His dedication of Pickup Man (if you don't know it, it's not about a womanizer but dudes who drive pickup trucks) to all the "cowgirls" brought raucous cheers and Next Thing Smokin' got everyone stomping their feet.  And, if that weren't enough, Prop Me Up Beside the Jukebox(If I Die), was just what the bar crowd in the room ordered and brought the energy level to new heights.

All those songs were fun and entertaining, but, for my money, where Joe Diffie really, really shines is on those country ballads that just have to make George Jones wish he'd gotten his hands on them first.  He brought plenty of those to the house, too, and with them poignant and touching moments.  The kind of stuff real country music thrives on.

There are two songs in his catalog that are guaranteed to put a lump in my throat and he performed them both.  His very first single was also his first number one hit, Home.  When that song was released in 1991, I was smack in the middle of my 20 year Air Force hitch.  Anyone who's been away from their origins for a long time can't help but be moved by a line like, "But more and more I'm thinking, that the only treasures that I'll ever know Are long ago and far behind and wrapped up in my memories of home.", especially when delivered with the ache only Joe Diffie can bring.  And that was just the start.

Later he asked anyone who had been in the military to stand up, there were a handful of us, then said he was dedicating his next song to us.  Ships that Don't Come In was his tribute, and poignant it was, especially the line, "So here's to all the soldiers who have ever died in vain"

The song in his repertoire that is the MOST country, if there is such a thing, is Is It Cold In Here, which he dedicated to his ex-wife (Is it cold in here, or is it just you).  And he delivered it with a twang and conviction that would, indeed, make Vern Gosdin proud.

As if his own catalog of pure country weren't enough, Diffie dips into the catalog of a legend to bring all the lovers in the room together.   Instructing everyone who was with the one the love to "hold them close", he said he was going to play a song that needed no introduction.  He was right, as the the band began to play the Charlie Rich classic, Behind Closed Doors.  Only a voice like Diffie's would dare cover it and succeed in doing it justice.

Diffie also performed Its Always Something, A Night to Remember, and a song he penned that was destined to become the biggest hit of Jo Dee Messina's career, My Give a Damn's Busted.  Finally, his encore was another crowd favorite, Honky-Tonk Attitude.

.THE BOTTOM LINE

Joe Diffie never became a star of the magnitude of Garth Brooks or Willie Nelson, but he built a solid career with some solid novelty tunes and a few good ole country songs destined to become classics.  He also wrote some songs for people like Hank Thompson and Holly Dunn. Besides his formidable guitar pickin',  blue chip back-up band and, that voice, Diffie brings to his concerts the two most important ingredients, energy and heart.  For an hour and a half on a Sunday night in Chattanooga, TN, Mr Joe Diffie and a 1000 of his closest friends had A Night to Remember.  GRADE: A