Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 20, 1995 TAG: 9508210009
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV20 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CLAYTOR LAKE LENGTH: Long
"They call me 'Barrell' at the feed store," Blevins said, explaining the nickname, then adding, "I'm 5 [foot] 8, and 42 inches around the belly."
But in music industry circles - where the Pulaski native spent much of his working life - they called him "Coma."
There's a story behind that. And perhaps because he has plenty of stories to tell of his former life in a faster lane, Blevins, 42, still stops by the Virginia Feed Store to trade tales.
Just for starters, he likes to tell how he helped put together the hot country music group Little Texas. And he rattles off the names of music stars, past and present, like they were next-door neighbors.
He'll do the same at Barrell's Bunkhouse, which sits every summer weekend at the mouth of Peak Creek on Claytor Lake, one of the lake's high-traffic areas.
Sidelined from the music business by seizures and diabetes a couple of years ago, Blevins is on disability. Profits from the floating diner go to a local church his parents attend.
Blevins' inspiration for the floating diner grew from the popularity of the hot dogs he brought to share with friends at Pulaski County High School Cougars' football games each fall. Fellow fans started saying they'd like to have them at the lake, and, as Blevins likes to say, "the rest is history."
He and his son, Buck, 20, the Cougar football team's manager for six years, first got the 28-foot pontoon boat to go fishing. After securing the necessary permissions and permits, Blevins quickly converted it into a floating lunch counter.
"We stay right with it," he said. "We" usually means Blevins and his son or his wife, Marcia.
In addition to the dogs, hamburgers, grilled cheeses and breakfast sausage, "I got the coldest soda pop on the lake," he said.
On a good day, he nets "maybe $100-150," selling to water skiers and fishing enthusiasts and pleasure boaters alike. The hot spell has spoiled business. "People won't hardly eat when it's hot," he said.
But, life on the lake has spawned a whole new set of stories for Blevins, including an occasional eye-opener. Enjoying his vantage point one day, he once saw a woman take off her bikini while water-skiing, first the top, then the bottom.
Then, he said, she swung around the side of the boat where a companion flipped her a canned drink, which she opened and drank, all while navigating the wake and waves.
Most times, though, "it's quiet, and in the evenings, it's awful nice to get away from the hassles, and it's good for the church."
Blevins' latest gig as a water-borne purveyor of hot dogs, burgers and cold drinks is a quiet intermission in a long career in the music business that started when he was a youngster.
A largely self-taught drummer, bass, piano and sax player, he began his musical career playing bass for Red Smiley on the "Top o' the Morning" show on Channel 7 decades ago. Piano player Dale Woods invited him onto bigger venues, first to country music radio giant WWVA in Wheeling, W.Va., then to the Grand Ole Opry, where he met Lonzo and Oscar, Del Reeves and Little Jimmy Dickens.
"And I started touring with those people in the summer," he said, working shows in the region.
Before long, he was touring regularly with Reeves and Bobby Helms, whose "Jingle Bell Rock" still gets country radio airplay around the holidays.
"He played every Army post there ever was," Blevins said.
He also played drums and sax for B.J. Thomas and George Jones on tour, and even diverged from country music to play sax for soul singer Peabo Bryson and drums for disco artist Evelyn "Champagne" King.
But probably the most memorable time was the six years he spent with the late country star Mel Street, whose hits included "Lovin' on Back Streets, Livin' on Main."
"We played Lakeside and everywhere through here," he said.
Blevins not only played drums for Street's tour, he was road manager as well.
It was during his years with Street that Blevins came to be known as "Coma," a nickname that began as a code word on the telephone to let Street's manager know what kind of shape Street was in at the moment.
"Just tell him Coma called," he'd say when Street was passed out.
The name stuck, even after Street took his own life in the mid-1970s, and his manager, Grundy native Jack Prater, went to work for Charley Pride. Blevins became road manager for Pride's opening acts, mostly new groups looking for a start.
Blevins takes credit for giving Little Texas its start some nine years ago when he hired piano player Brady Sills, who introduced him to fellow Ohioan and drummer Dell Gray. In New York on tour, Sills and Gray got together with the group's other four members - Porter Howell, Dewayne Probes, Dewayne O'Brian and Tim Rushrow - who had been planning to form a group of their own.
Five years ago, Little Texas won seven times on "Star Search, but lost out to a Canadian group, "Mad About Plaid," on the crucial eighth week, which would have meant $250,000 plus a recording contract.
Even so, the exposure led to a deal with Warner Brothers and "the rest is history," Blevins said.
Among the group's hits are "Kick a Little," "God Bless Texas," "First Time for Everything," and "My Love," which sold 41/2 million copies.
But a seizure while he was on the road in Oklahoma City two years ago marked the beginning of the end for Blevins' professional music career. "I woke up in the hospital," he said. Doctors also discovered Blevins had diabetes.
Blevins knew his road manager days were done. "I can't black out with $300,000 in my briefcase," he said.
He still suffers seizures, "sometimes two a week," so he always keeps a companion aboard Barrell's Bunkhouse.
With Cougar football just around the bend, this weekend could be Blevins' last on the lake for this season. He has arranged for Lucy Hall, who runs Main Street Station, to take over until the warm weather ends.
Little Texas was to play the West Virginia State Fair last week, and Blevins expects the band to drop by his house for biscuits and gravy. The group presented him with a gold album plaque a couple of years ago.
Barrell's Bunkhouse is open from noon Fridays until 8 p.m. Sundays. Wave when you sail by, or better yet, stop by. Blevins will have a story for you.
by CNB