Joe Diffie Readies New Bluegrass Album For August Release

Rounder Records has announced country music star and Grand Ole Opry member Joe Diffie’s return to bluegrass music with Homecoming: The Bluegrass Album. Due August 24, Homecoming was co-produced by Diffie and Luke Wooten and features a who’s who of bluegrass A-listers including The Grascals, Rhonda Vincent, Bradley Walker, and Alecia Nugent. He also enlisted a top-notch band that includes Rob Ickes, Aubrey Haynie, Mike Compton, Bryan Sutton, Mark Fain and Charlie Cushman to back his better-than-ever vocals on this set of songs that are sure to appeal to Diffie’s long-time fans and bluegrass traditionalists alike.

While this is Diffie’s first bluegrass release, it’s not the first bluegrass release on which he’s appeared. Prior to his moving to Nashville and becoming the country star he is today, he spent several years touring and recording with the bluegrass band Special Edition. Homecoming is an homage to bluegrass, his musical legacy and first love. Not only does he reach into his own past for songs such as “Tennessee Tea” and into classic catalog tunes like Flatt & Scruggs’ “Somehow Tonight” – he also covers modern repertoire like “Lonesome And Dry As A Bone,” written by long time friend Shawn Camp, and Larry Cordle’s moving “I Know How It Feels.” Diffie contributed a few originals as well, such as the soon to be bluegrass classic, “It’s Raining On Her Rubber Dolly Now,” co-written with Camp and featuring the remarkable bluegrass group and label mates, The Grascals.