During the '90s, Joe Diffie
was a #1 star hailing charted songs. Among the first of those hits were "Home",
"If You Want Me To" and many more from his first album, "A Thousand Winding
Roads". This album helped to establish Joe as one of the great balladeers of the
time. One of my all time favorite hits was one that appeared on Mary-Chapin Carpenter's
album, "Come on, Come on" (1992) in which Mary invited Joe to do a duet with her
on, "It's Not Too Much To Ask". He continued to have great success and charted
17 top ten hits, two platinum albums and two gold albums.
"Tougher Than
Nails" proves to be of that caliber that we came to expect from Joe so long ago..
before the studios started cryin' for bubble-gum country to cross over into the rock
charts, which were suppose to bring more fans to the country genre. I could go into my
long tirade about that, but that was then, this is now.... so movin' along...
After Joe's contract
expired in 2001 he signed up with a new label independent label, Broken Bow Records. I've
got to give a thumbs up to Broken Bow Records for knowing talent and being willing to
allow Joe to create his kind of music and for the first time produce it his
way... which adds up to "our way of lovin' Joe Diffie"! Aiding Joe in this
endeavor was the revered Lonnie Wilson and Buddy Cannon who worked with Joe as
co-producers. That's just the beginning of the array of talent that jumped on board with
this project.
Joe wrote or cowrote 5 out
of the 12 songs on "Tougher Thank Nails" with some of the top talents such as
Harley Allen, Frank Meyers, Leslie Satcher, Bobby Tomberlin and Shawn Camp, who had one
album released (that I know of), self titled in 1993. I'm very happy to say I have it and
love it! Just a note to all of you fans out there... when you get a new album, don't just
put it on and play it, get into the habit of reading the credits and you'll be amazed how
you come to know these folks just through their work on so many different projects. Last
but never least, the ol' possum,George Jones appears with Joe for a duet on "What
Would Waylon Do?" Now tell me, how could things get any better???
Another aspect of
"Tougher Than Nails" is that it combines Joe's great diversity in all aspects of
his talent and song stylings. You'll want to sing along, dance a little, cry a little but
most of all, simply enjoy it, whichever song is playing.
An important part of this
album for me is a song that you won't get to hear on this page... thanks to Joe's PR
personel with Webster & Associates, his manager and BBR label, "If I Could Only
Bring You Back" is being featured on the front page of the "Child Alert
Foundation"; a project that any of you who know me at all, know that I am highly
involved in.. well, I am after all a cofounder and board member. I want to thank Joe
Diffie and all of his people for making this possible. Believe me, it's a rare thing when
a star allows you to showcase a full song for any reason.... but this is for one of the
best reasons ever and when you hear the song, you'll know why.
"If I Could Only Bring
You Back" will be the next song released to radio so I urge you all, hear the song on
the "CAF" site, and start calling your
radio stations to play it day in and day out!
Don't forget... the title
of the album is "Tougher Than Nails" and it comes from one of the most tender
hearts in country music, Joe Diffie.
© Marlene Slater (Marli)
My Kind of Country
8-14-04
