HIXTAPE VOL. 3: DIFFTAPE Featuring HARDY & Famous Friends
HARDY and friends honor Joe Diffie in the brand new collaborative album, HIXTAPE VOL. 3: DIFFTAPE, out now on, March 29th. Listen to the new songs here!
HARDY is the most in-demand songwriter in Nashville and is slowly becoming one of the most popular recording artists as well. However, his flourishing singing career has not stopped him from continuing the fan favorite HIXTAPE series. HIXTAPE started out as a 10-track project curated by HARDY in 2019 (before his debut album, A Rock) that featured 18 artists. Vol. 1 produced the chart topper, “One Beer” with Lauren Alaina and Devin Dawson. Vol. 2 took it up a notch, containing 14 tracks with 33 features. Vol. 3 took a different route, paying tribute to the late Joe Diffie on the fourth anniversary of his passing. The album contains 17 songs, all Diffie covers, including one unreleased track. The record was produced by Joey Moi.
The project came about at the CMA Awards when rap/pop star Post Malone joined HARDY and Morgan Wallen on stage to perform Diffie’s “John Deere Green” and “Pickup Man” as an homage to the GRAMMY and CMA Award-winning country star. Both songs charted in the top-5 with the latter spending five weeks at number one between 1994-1995.
Aside from those two songs, the project contains other number one hits such as “Home,” “If the Devil Danced (In Empty Pockets),” “Third Rock from the Sun,” and “Bigger Than The Beatles.” First-time HIXTAPE features include legends such as Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan, Reba McEntire, Brooks & Dunn, and the late Toby Keith. Rising country stars include Kameron Marlowe, Nate Smith, Lauren Watkins, and Larry Fleet. While HARDY played more of a supporting role on the record, only providing his vocals for three tracks, he got to sing the chorus on the unreleased song “Life Had Plans For Me,” alongside Diffie and his son, Parker. The tune tells the tale of someone whose plans of becoming a football star were halted when he received the news that he was going to be a dad. Listen to the reflective, heart-warming story below!
“When something more important comes along // And you’re forced to give up // What you’ve been workin’ toward // Waitin’ for, chasin’, slavin’, cravin’, and prayin’ for // The chance to live your dreams // He said I had plans for life // Oh but life had plans for me”
“As someone who had the profound privilege of performing alongside my father, it fills my heart with immense joy to witness his enduring legacy continued with the same passion and fervor that he embodied,” Parker Diffie shared in a recent press release. “The release of HIXTAPE: Vol. 3: DIFFTAPE is an opportunity to not only celebrate the past but also to embrace the future with reverence and enthusiasm.”
Finding artists for this record must have been an easy task for HARDY and Big Loud. Diffie will always be remembered as an icon who transcended the genre in the 90s. We could imagine, it would be an honor to cover one of Diffie’s hits and be a part of such a memorable project.
HIXTAPE VOL. 3: DIFFTAPE. Track List:
- John Deere Green (Joe Diffie, Morgan Wallen & HARDY)
- Pickup Man (Joe Diffie, Post Malone)
- Ships That Don’t Come In (Joe Diffie, Toby Keith & Luke Combs)
- Third Rock From The Sun (Joe Diffie, Blake Shelton, HARDY & Brooks & Dunn)
- Prop Me Up Beside The Jukebox (If I Die) (Joe Diffie, Tracy Lawrence, Lainey Wilson & The Difftones)
- Bigger Than The Beatles (Joe Diffie, Jon Pardi & Old Dominion)
- Honky Tonk Attitude (Joe Diffie, Luke Bryan & Randy Houser)
- Is It Cold In Here (Joe Diffie, Reba McEntire & Jake Worthington)
- Texas Size Heartache (Joe Diffie, Clint Black & Larry Fleet)
- Home (Joe Diffie, Darius Rucker & Hailey Whitters)
- C-O-U-N-T-R-Y (Joe Diffie, Aaron Tippin & ERNEST)
- So Help Me Girl (Joe Diffie, Mark Wills & Nate Smith)
- New Way (To Light Up An Old Flame) (Joe Diffie, Randall King & Sammy Kershaw)
- If The Devil Danced In Empty Pockets (Joe Diffie, Jack Ingram & Koe Wetzel)
- A Night To Remember (Joe Diffie, Lauren Watkins & Kameron Marlowe)
- In Another World (Joe Diffie, Chris Young)
- Life Had Plans For Me (Joe Diffie, HARDY & Parker Diffie)
HARDY shares HIXTAPE VOL. 3: DIFFTAPE, out now on all streaming platforms.
Fans can join our Weekly Round-Up e-newsletter here, for the latest in country music and more news and announcements.
HIXTAPE VOL. 3: DIFFTAPE is available everywhere you buy or stream music. Take a listen below and check out more new recently released tunes on our ‘New Country Music’ playlist. Be sure to give the playlist a follow for your weekly new country music fix.
