Mickey Gilley

The Cavern and the Top 10 Iconic Rock Clubs In History

Last week back in 1957, the most famous rock club in England opened in Liverpool. There was absolutely no rock and roll on the bill that night. The Cavern Club was originally opened to mimic the cellar jazz bars that owner Alan Synter visited in Paris. There was a strict jazz-only policy in place ... More >>

Is Gilley's Coming Back to Pasadena?

One way you know it must be rodeo season is when strange things like this start happening. Mickey Gilley, the country singer and businessman who made Pasadena world-famous when his Gilley's nightclub was featured in the 1980 movie Urban Cowboy, announced on Facebook about 30 minutes ago that he is ... More >>

The Texas 30: Willie Nelson's Best Albums of the Past 30 Years

Willie Nelson's Across the Borderline is one of the albums that made it onto our Texas 30 list of the best 30 Texas albums of the past 30 years, which runs later today. We promise that you will dig it, and hate it, which is how it's supposed to be. Rewind: The Texas 30: The Third Runners-Up, Al ... More >>

The 5 Best Shows In Houston This Week: November 12-15

DJ Sun The Flat, November 12 For two decades now, DJ Sun has been a Houston turntable institution thanks to his his wide-ranging sets, which only start with jazz, hip-hop, R&B, soul, Latin, reggae, funk and electronica. They always come twice a week, on his KPFT-FM show Soular Grooves (9 p.m. Satur ... More >>

More Medical Trouble for Urban Cowboy-era Star Fiddlin' Frenchie Burke

Above: Frenchie Burke in a showbiz moment. Fiddlin' Frenchie Burke, one of the icons of Houston's "Urban Cowboy" craze of the late '70s, was diagnosed with an inoperable brain aneurysm yesterday in San Antonio, according to information on fellow fiddler Jody Nix's Facebook page. Known for his hug ... More >>

RIP Gene Thomas: Swamp-Pop Singer of "Sometimes" Passes Away at 74

Gene Thomas, the Texas singer and songwriter whose 1961 swamp-pop hit "Sometimes" was recorded at Houston's Gold Star Studios (later SugarHill), and was later covered by Doug Sahm, passed away Sunday morning. Houston musician Buzzy Smith announced Thomas' death on his Facebook page. The Palestine n ... More >>

The Comeback Cowboy

After taking a tumble, Mickey Gilley is back onstage.

Ragin' Cajun Jo-El Sonnier Plays Nutty Jerry's Saturday

​Nutty Jerry's in Winnie has been doing a great job bringing in legacy acts like Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Guess Who, Mickey Gilley, Ronnie Dunn, and Blood, Sweat and Tears. But the club really got our blood pumping when they booked the Cajun wildman, Jo-El Sonnier, who plays the club Satu ... More >>

Duct Tape Messiah Redux

Part of a storied singer-songwriter scene, former Houstonians Gurf Morlix and Blaze Foley were living in Montrose during the Urban Cowboy craze but were not impressed. In fact, according to Morlix, they worked so much they "hardly ever had a night off, and if we did we certainly weren't going to dri ... More >>

Eat It: Restaurants Owned by Musicians

​Hotlanta is so hot that they can even turn their airport into a club. Stay with us. A few days ago, Ludacris announced that he will close his Asian/Singaporean restaurant, Straits, and embark on a new "restaurateur" opportunity: opening a "Chicken and Beer" restaurant inside of Atlanta's Hart ... More >>

The Peddler

Both in and out of prison, Brian Culwell has spent his life selling people baubles, trinkets and jewels. Now he's buying your gold and silver.

Brian Culwell: All That Glitters May Not Be Gold at Gold and Silver Buyers

Court documents tell a different tale.​Back in March, the Houston Chronicle produced a glittering profile of Brian and Amelia Culwell, founders of Houston-based Gold and Silver Buyers. The company, the report noted, had been launched in August of 2008 in a leased space inside an HEB store and ... More >>

New Venue The Flamingo Room Has A Leg Up

Photos by Marc Brubaker​Astute readers of the Houston Press' and Rocks Off's local concert calendars might have noticed that a new venue is pulling some names into town. Sidled up to the Gulf Freeway just minutes from Hobby Airport, The Flamingo Room is Houston's newest mid-level venue. Rumor ... More >>

Houston Needs An Urban Cowboy Statue, Y'all

​For the past month, you have no doubt been reading about a group in Detroit lobbying for a Robocop statue in their city to commemorate the fictional (we believe) robotic law enforcement titan created by the evil corporate goons of OCP, using deceased Detroit officer James Murphy. Detroit may ... More >>

Mickey Gilley Talks Rehabbing From '09 Spinal Injury

gilleys.com​Monday, in Rocks Off's our review of Jerry Lee Lewis's show in Winnie, Texas, we mentioned that Mickey Gilley, legendary country pianist and proprietor of probably the most famous honky-tonk in the universe was sitting at stage right. Gilley and Jerry Lee are cousins, about a six ... More >>

Gabrielle Giffords and TIRR: Country Legend Mickey Gilley Spent Eight Months at Hospital

gilleys.com​Monday, in Rocks Off's review of Jerry Lee Lewis's show in Winnie, Texas, we mentioned that Mickey Gilley, legendary 74-year-old country pianist and proprietor of probably the most famous honky-tonk in the universe, was sitting at stage right. Gilley and Jerry Lee are cousins, abo ... More >>

Friday Night: Jerry Lee Lewis At Nutty Jerry's

Ed. Note: A reader wrote in Wednesday informing us that the reason Mickey Gilley required assistance moving at Friday's show is because he fell down some stairs in a 2009 accident. After several months at TIRR, where U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is now, Gilley has resumed performing (though not play ... More >>

Died and Gone to Houston

City is ready for another honky-tonk close-up.

Urban Cowboy: How Does It Hold Up In 2010? (SPOILER ALERT)

Hollywood Shuffle can't really explain why we've never seen Urban Cowboy before. The only excuse is that we were born in 1980, the same year the film was released, and by the time we were old enough to appreciate it the line-dancing honky tonk fad that has swept America in the wake of the film had ... More >>

Inquiring Minds: An Hour With The Red Krayola Mastermind Mayo Thompson

Chris Strong/ Drag City​ Last Friday, Rocks Off had the distinct pleasure of talking to Mayo Thompson, the man behind psychedelic (or not) art-rockers The Red Krayola, whose career spans the early days of Houston label International Artists, the art worlds of New York and Europe in the '70s, a sti ... More >>

Get Lit: Blues & Chaos: The Music Writings of Robert Palmer

​Unfortunately, by the time that Robert Palmer (the writer, not the "Addicted to Love" guy) died from liver failure complications in 1997, his fierce brand of music journalism had been six feet under for years. Palmer was part of a loose cadre of scribes like Cameron Crowe, Greil Marcus, Lester Ba ... More >>

Tonight: Rocks Off Presents Stand By Me at the Mink - Free Hot Dogs!

Tonight at the Mink, Rocks Off presents Rob Reiner's 1986 coming-of-age classic Stand By Me, complete with free hot dogs from hot indie restaurant darlings Ray's Franks.​Adapted from Stephen King's Different Seasons novella "The Body," the film traces the journey of four friends searching for the ... More >>

Sounds of the Universe

Synth-pop icons Depeche Mode do read their reviews.

Sherwood Cryer, Gilley's Co-Founder and Ornery Cuss, Dies at 83

Chris GraySherwood Cryer at G's Ice House, 1999​Sherwood Cryer, who co-founded legendary super-size Pasadena honky-tonk Gilley's and watched it rocket to worldwide fame in the wake of 1980's Urban Cowboy before a bitter falling out with his partner Mickey Gilley led to the club's demise, passed aw ... More >>

Sherwood Cryer, Gilley's Co-Founder and Ornery Cuss, Dies at 83

Chris GraySherwood Cryer at G's Ice House, 1999​Sherwood Cryer, who co-founded legendary super-size Pasadena honky-tonk Gilley's and watched it rocket to worldwide fame in the wake of 1980's Urban Cowboy before a bitter falling out with his partner Mickey Gilley led to the club's demise, passed aw ... More >>

A Musical Guide to Post-Secession Texas: Houston and "Brazoria"

The final installment of our Five States of Texas project brings it all back home, to the new state of Brazoria, encompassing all of Southeast Texas from the Brazos Valley to Sabine Pass. ​Patron Saint: Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. A master of rock and roll, country, Cajun/Creole, blues and jazz, n ... More >>

Mick Jagger meets Gilley's

Some Girls Ride Bulls

Ronnie Milsap

Vinyl Ranch’s tribute to Urban Cowboy

Leon’s monthly country-music installment pays tribute to classic country cinema

More Googlism Poetry

A Stopover in Strait Country

The Houston 100: The Master List

Houston's Very Best Songs Ever

...otherwise known as the H-Town 20

Four Dudes Walk into a Bar

Hard-hat days and honky-tonk nights

Cowboy Johnson

A Grain of Sand (MoonHouse Records)

Traffic Jam

The folks at Tapir Productions are trying to keep jam bands from skipping over Houston

Overblown and Underrated

So you know Houston's goats, heroes and high points? Think again.

Swing Time

Shelly Berg learned jazz the hard way: He listened to the greats

Urban (Cowboy) Renewal

King of the Pile

Butch Forrest lives off the land. Need a used doughnut fryer?

A Last Bite of '97

Sherwood's Rules

Sherwood Cryer lost his redneck empire the same way he built it: in a tangle of lawyers, women and country music

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