In 1986, Joe Diffie was pouring sweat into brutal work at a foundry in Duncan, Oklahoma, in heat so intense the air tasted like metal. Then the plant closed for good. He lost his job, declared bankruptcy, sold off the makeshift recording studio he had built by hand, watched his marriage fall apart, and sank into a heavy depression. It was total devastation.

Four short years later, that same man was a Nashville hitmaker. This episode traces Joe Diffie's improbable climb from rock bottom to country stardom: the persistence that kept him writing and pitching songs, the breaks that finally landed, and the everyman voice that turned a laid-off foundry worker into a beloved 1990s legend.

• The 1986 foundry closure that left him bankrupt
• Selling the home studio he built by hand
• The four-year climb from rock bottom to Nashv ...