HARDY’s third installment of his Hixtape series, HIXTAPE VOL. 2: DIFFTAPE, pays homage to the late great Joe Diffie, and the project’s tracklist includes some of Diffie’s best-loved songs, featuring original vocals from the late singer alongside some of the biggest country artists. Diffie died in 2020 due to complications of COVID; he is survived by his wife, Tara, and five children.
HARDY released HIXTAPE Vol 1 in 2019, and Vol. 2 in 2021; he shares of the latest edition: “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. Especially having the original recordings and the fact that we have his family’s blessing to do it, it’s all really special.”
HIXTAPE VOL. 2: DIFFTAPE features Joe Diffie alongside Clint Black, Larry Fleet, Randy Houser, Luke Bryan, Old Dominion, Jon Pardi, Lainey Wilson, Tracy Lawrence, Chris Young, Nate Smith, Mark Wills, ERNEST, Aaron Tippin, Randall King, Sammy Kershaw, Parker Diffie (Joe Diffie’s son), Hailey Whitters, Darius Rucker, Brooks & Dunn, Blake Shelton, Jake Worthington, Reba McEntire, Jack Ingram, Koe Wetzel, Luke Combs, Toby Keith, Kameron Marlowe, Lauren Watkins, and previously announced artists HARDY, Morgan Wallen, and Post Malone.
An article on Whiskey Riff quotes Hardy as saying that ‘Difftape’ is meant to be “a huge nod” to one of his musical heroes, and that fans won’t “believe the people that are on this”: “‘Difftape’ is all Joe Diffie songs and it’s just a huge nod, tip of the hat, if you will, to the icon that is Joe Diffie. Rest in peace, we all love you, we all miss you and we just wanted to do something special and different and cool. So this is the biggest ‘Hixtape’ ever, 30 of our best country friends and singers. You’re not gonna believe all the people that are on this… I’m so proud of all the people that said yes to this.”
To stream HIXTAPE: Vol. 3: DIFFTAPE, head here.
Editorial credit: Debby Wong / Shutterstock.com