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Servin' A Hot Side O' Bluegrass

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By NICOLA M. WHITE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 30, 2007

ZEPHYRHILLS - Every Friday, the man would set down his cane, pick up his harmonica and climb on stage with Jenny Leet when she belted out 'How Great Thou Art.'

Just that one song. Just on Friday.

On those afternoons, Barb's Family Dining, a kitsch-filled breakfast landmark on the southern end of Gall Boulevard, opens especially to showcase live bluegrass, old-time country and gospel music by Jennylinn and the Country Gentlemen.

It's not just the music, though, that makes people line up outside an hour before the show starts.

In a small, growing town where houses are replacing pastures and citrus groves are giving way to chain restaurants, Fridays at Barb's remains a constant. To some, it's like family.

And every family has its characters.

Here, you'll find Miss Rose Schwab depositing pennies, one by one, in a tip box near the stage, to the rhythm of a drum roll. There's Miss Helen LeCroy, dancing by herself in a big skirt. The 80-year-old wears soft-stepping Keds as substitutes for the clicking clogs of her Louisiana childhood.

Then there's the guy with the wisecracks.

'This is old people's time for honky-tonkin,'' said P.J. Ellyson, a Friday regular.

Black-and-white photographs, oil paintings and Vietnam War memorial banners line the walls. Antique dolls, washing boards and brownie cameras fill the glass cabinets. Bits of old Zephyrhills hang about the place, too: a tiny black Corona typewriter from the old Zephyr Hotel and a yellowing 1948 calendar for Moody's Hardware Store.

Owner Barb Huffman doesn't like to call her diners 'customers.' To her, they're family. She hugs those who winter in the area's mobile home parks when they return, and they bring her yard sale trinkets to hang on the walls or put in the cabinets.

A few years back, a man gave her a framed photo of his wife, who had died of cancer. Huffman immediately put it on an eye-level shelf next to his regular table, where they used to sit together.

'Every morning, he comes in and has coffee with his Honey,' said Huffman, 57. 'That's what he calls her.'

On Fridays, the place fills with Leet's soulful voice, accompanied by Ralph Davis and Tom Riley on guitar. Waitresses scurry around, offering $7.99 meatloaf and fried fish dinner specials.

Leet, 42, is Huffman's daughter and helps out at the restaurant when she's not selling real estate. She sings barefoot and looks to be the youngest person in the restaurant most Fridays.

She grew up on Loretta Lynn, Jean Shepard and her mom's cooking.

'I just love the old stuff,' she said. 'The main reason I do it, not only is it my memories, it's their memories. With the people I have in there, they can relate to that era.'

Sometimes, surprise guests join her on stage. Hank Williams Jr. has swung by, as has Shepard, Leet's all-time favorite.

'When you're sitting here on a Friday afternoon, you never know who's going to stop in,' said Ruth Ann Danger, who eats lunch at Barb's every day and on Fridays brings her pine needle baskets to work on while she listens to the music.

'This is a real extended family here,' she said. 'I have my mother here but no one else other than my dog. This is family away from family.'

Leet and the boys mostly cover old country songs, though they sneak in some freestyle bluegrass, too. The crowd sings along to tunes such as Hank Williams' 'Your Cheatin' Heart' and Waylon Jennings' 'Good Hearted Woman.'

On a recent Friday, the music stopped for a few minutes as waitresses passed around plates of vanilla-frosted sheet cake. Everyone paused to sing 'Happy Birthday to You' for Paul Barlow, the man with the cane and harmonica. He died this summer and would have turned 80 this year.

There were no tears, just lots of guitar-picking and toe-tapping in his honor. Were he alive, he would have been on that stage, blowing his harmonica.

Leet pledged to hang his cane on the wall behind the band. He was, after all, one of the characters who make Friday afternoons at Barb's.

IF YOU GO:

Barb's Family Dining

WHERE: 5017 Gall Blvd.

WHEN: Friday shows start at 3 p.m.

COST: People coming to hear the music must buy dinner.

Reporter Nicola M. White can be reached at (813) 779-4613 or nwhite1@tampatrib.com. Keyword: Barb's for the sights and sounds that make up Barb's Family Dining.

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