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Picking ponies and stringsBy JACKIE RIPLEY © St. Petersburg Times, published July 19, 1998 With several hit records to his name and a place in the Florida Music Hall of Fame, Hodge considers music his claim to fame. But his love of horses inspires no less devotion. "They're both a labor of love," said the 65-year-old Hodge as he sat in the cafeteria of Tampa Bay Downs with a decade's worth of show business memorabilia spread at his elbow. Recalling how a guitar got him hooked on country music and how a gelding got him hooked on horses, Hodge talked about his days with the Grand Ole Opry and how at the pinnacle of his musical career there were recording contracts, club dates, television shows -- and Hollywood. Hodge said he had a few minor roles in some of Hollywood's old westerns starring Lash LaRue. "It's all I know," he said. He understands the capricious nature of entertainment and horses. Yet both have been good to Hodge -- even today. He performs every Friday and Saturday night at his newly opened club, Bobby Hodge's Longhorn, at Silvermill Plaza, 11234 W Hillsborough Ave. near Westchase. The Longhorn moved after being in North Tampa five years. Inside the 3,000-square-foot dimly lit club, patrons dance to some of Hodge's own songs- such as You're Welcome to Cry on My Shoulder and North Carolina Bound -- as well as his rendition of country classics from Hank Williams to Eddy Arnold. Hodge said he hopes eventually to offer live entertainment seven nights a week. In a continuing effort to combine his two worlds, he provides a shuttle bus between Tampa Bay Downs and the Longhorn, racing forms for the next day and reruns of that day's races. Hodge and his wife, Mary Hodge, raised four sons together, spending their summers traveling around the country in a tour bus. Their boys grew up playing music; Bob Jr. and Richie continue to perform with their father. The Hodges settled in Odessa after visiting one winter 22 years ago. They never looked back. "It was 82 degrees, the roses were in bloom, and I said music's just as popular here as Wisconsin and opened a lounge in Oldsmar," Hodge said. That's when, Hodge said, he met horse people from the nearby racetrack who would "play my records on the jukebox and we'd talk about the old stars." Then "one of the people sold me a horse he couldn't do anything with." That recalcitrant horse, named Stay 'n Place, was a bargain at $250. In his first race he won $190; the next time out of the gate his purse was $250. Later Hodge was able to consolidate music and horses so that while his ponies were going through the paces in towns like Atlantic City and Charleston, he was playing clubs on Atlantic City's Boardwalk and in venues like Heritage Hall in Harper's Ferry. Stay 'n Place also was the catalyst that got Mrs. Hodge started in horse training. She was the lead trainer at Tampa Bay Downs in 1985 and its second trainer the following two years. These days Mrs. Hodge waits tables on weekends at the Longhorn and hosts the club's karaoke nights. Theirs is a partnership that has endured 44 years. "I don't even want to go to the store without her," Hodge said.
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DESSA -- Country music recording artist Bobby Hodge lives in two worlds at once. And he's hard pressed to say which he loves more.
