Rounder Records is pleased to announce country music star and Grand Ole Opry member Joe Diffies 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 Diffies 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, Its Raining On Her Rubber Dolly Now, co-written with Camp and featuring the remarkable bluegrass group and label mates, The Grascals.

Since he first topped the charts in 1990 with Home, Diffie has delivered hit after hit totaling twelve #1, twenty top 10 and four gold and platinum albums. Some of his most popular hits include Ships That Dont Come In, Pickup Man, John Deere Green, and If the Devil Danced (In Empty Pockets). As a songwriter, Diffies success is equally impressive. In addition to the numerous hits he kept for himself, his songs have been recorded by Holly Dunn, Tim McGraw, Tracy Lawrence, Conway Twitty, Doug Stone, and most recently Jo Dee Messina, whose recording of My Give a Damns Busted became a #1 hit. He has won a Grammy, several CMA Awards, and has been honored as Humanitarian of the Year by the Country Music Broadcasters.

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Source

• Bluegrass Music Profiles Magazine