Joe Diffie Stays on the Road While Readying New Music

It's been five years since Joe Diffie released Homecoming: The Bluegrass Album and 11 years since his last mainstream record, Tougher Than Nails, but that doesn't mean that he is slowing down. The 56-year-old still spends much of his time on the road, performing more than two decades' worth of hits.

“It’s how I make my money," Diffie told The Boot in the days before his appearance at Country on the River 2015 in Prairie du Chien, Wis. "But I enjoy it. We’ve had great crowds, and it’s been really good, actually. So I have a really busy summer ahead of me, doing that, and then getting ready to find something good to record, and [I'll] hopefully have some new stuff out fairly soon.”

The Oklahoma native, who also released All in the Same Boat, a collaborative album with Sammy Kershaw and Aaron Tippin, in 2013, admits that he isn't sure what his new project will sound like, adding that it's still a work-in-progress.

“I just know that I want to put something out pretty soon, just to keep my core fans interested," he explains. "We’ve been looking for the right song, and we’ll put something out pretty soon.”

Diffie wrote several of his Top 20 singles, including "If You Want Me To," "New Way (to Light Up an Old Flame)" and "In My Own Backyard," and the Grand Ole Opry member says that he is always willing to try something new with his music, even if it may not be part of country's latest trends.

"Whenever you get new doors open, you just go through them and see what happens," Diffie says, mentioning his bluegrass album and collaborative album. "... Just putting out an album doesn’t really -- I mean, it’s nice for your core fans, but it doesn’t really do anything for anybody who doesn’t really know who you are. So I just try to find something different and unusual and fun to do.”

Diffie will spend much of the remainder of the year on the road. A complete list of dates is available on his website.