Wading through a never-ending cesspool of tragic events that surrounded country music over the past 12 months, last week I mentally started formulating a year-in-review story.
When the COVID-19 pandemic caused the IHSA and NCAA to cancel high school and college basketball championship tournaments in March, the music world quickly followed. All live performances were immediately halted, from solo gigs at the corner bar to sold-out mega-festivals.
The seriousness of the disease got ugly quickly.
On March 29, Joe Diffie died from COVID complications. He was just 61 and two months earlier had performed at the Marion Cultural & Civic Center. In a chilling flash, âThe Pickup Manâ was gone.