December 13, 2025 • 18 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Michael Berry Show.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Okay, you asked me about the influence that people had
on my career. One thing I can relate to is
Roy Orbison because back in nineteen sixty four, I'm riding
down the road one day listening to Paul ber lynn
on and he played Roy Orbison version of Lonely Wine
and it was on an album, and I went and
(00:23):
because I fell in love with a song, and I
went and recorded it. I took Paul the single and
I always thought, if I could ever get Paul Burlin
to play a song by Mickey Gilly, that's going to
be successful. And sure enough, the record took off and
started to sell. And I stayed in this one club
with is It Wrong? And Lonely Wine that I had
recorded with Kenny on the base on is It Wrong
and Lonely Wine that I recorded Jones Sounds Recording Studio
(00:45):
in the Heights. Those two songs kept me working at
the Nest Dell Club on Spencer Highway for ten years now.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Is that where he brought Elvis the one time? Because
Paul ber Lynne told me a story about him bringing
Elvis to some club off of Spencer Highway.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
You know, I don't know if I don't remember Elvis
ever been on Spencer, but I do know he came
to Houston at one time, but I was I didn't
get I never got a chance to meet him. Although
I didn't meet, I didn't beat him in the pictures
I had.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
I had Paul Berln on my show on and we
had so much fun just going through the memories and
people would call in and tell stories of when they'd
met him in their high school reunion he'd played, or
whatever else. And I had Roy Head call in. He
was on tour in Illinois, and Roy Head called in,
Johnny Nash called in. But Paul Berlin, what a legend
in Houston radio. Is still on the radio today.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Well, he's had a big influence on my career because
I always thought that if I could get him to
play one of my recordings. I remember when he played
Jerry Lee's Crazy Arms when I first took him seventy
eight RPM, and I always said, you know, Paul Berlin
would play one of my recordings, I'm gonna be successful
in the industry because he was such a fabulous DJ
in the Houston area.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Do you listen to a lot of music now Mickey Gillis.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
I used to listen to quite a bit, but uh,
you know, I i'd really pay attention more of what
I'm doing in my career more anything else. What's left
of it. That is, being seventy six years old, I
don't have a lot of you know, major time left
in my life. But I'm having a great time in
doing what I'm doing. I'm trying to keep my name
out there, you know, with the Gillies in Vegas at
the Treasure Island, the one in Dallas with my name
(02:16):
on it we just opened, and Gillies up and Chalktaw
Nations and Durant, Oklahoma, and uh, I'm just trying to
keep the logo out there and keep the things going
with you.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
And you're still performing ten months out of the year,
three nights a week, and.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
I'm doing some road dates and I'm working three days
a week during the summer months there in my theater Sunday,
Monday and Tuesday night. And i have six working six
nights a week in my theater and every night and
I'll go over to the restaurant Saint karaoke with people.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Really I'm a glutten.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Oh my goodness, They must enjoyed that nobody would left
to photograph all that, because, believe it.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
I'm a glutton for punishment when it comes to music.
I enjoyed the camaraderie with the audience to have a
great time with the people. You got time for a
quick story.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Making Gillies in the studio, I got town for.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
I had a lady come through the You get a kick
out of this.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
This lady comes through the autograph line the other other
day and she sits down beside me, and she has
an autograph and I signed it for and I took
a picture with her. And I'm, you know, very cordial
with all the fans that come through, you know, And
I'm chatting with.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Her a little bit, trying to chat with everybody.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
And she looked at me. She says, I bet I'm
older than you are. And I said, well, maybe, ma'am
you might be. How old are and she said, I'm
eighty five years old. I said, wow, yeah, you got
me just a few years, not much, but a few.
I said, you're looking good to be eighty five. What
are you doing tonight, honey? And she said the same thing.
You're doing nothing.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Oh I like it. Some of the best material for
people come through the autograph line.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
It must be such a thrill to see people because
of your career and because it's what it's meant to people.
You know, I think there are people and not not
to criticize anyone else who did a song and moved
on down the road, but for you, it was so
intimate to so many people's lives.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
The camaraderie I have with the fans is very rewarding
to me too, you know.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
I mean, I get up and take pictures.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
People come through the autograph and I'll stand up, and
as bad as my legs are and I can't stand
up for a long period of time right now, but
I get up out of the chair and I take
pictures with him and I try to look, you know,
like you know, I want to be when I was
thirty eight years old.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
I'm not that old. Double it. I'm doubled that.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
But I'm I'm doing a show for Lucas All at
my restaurant and Branson, And like I said, I'm a
glad to punishing when it comes to work. I'm a workaholic. Actually,
we're doing Lucas All. People ordered thirteen shows for my restaurant,
that I'm doing. I made him a pilot show and
they liked it. I'm trying to trying to go back
and revisit Gilly's place.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
When you look at what the music industry has become today,
better or worse the same, what do you what do
you see out there?
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Well? Some of the acts that I really really get
a kick out of.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
I mean I really like Toby Keith, I like George Straight,
I like Garth Brooks. Of course, Garth is sort of
semi retired now. I don't think he's doing very much anymore.
But some of the acts have come along that's really good,
a lot of credibility. I look back at what's happening
with me and Johnny Lee when we first started, you know,
and back when John Travolta first did the film The
(05:09):
Urban Cowboy, and it launched me and him in the
stratusphere all of a sudden, and I, of course I
traveled with Conwin Loretta for quite.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
A few years.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
I've had a very good career.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
I mean, I cannot complain, like I said before, if
it ended tomorrow, it's been a great ride.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Is there a song that when you hear it just
always puts you in a good mood that somebody else
is that you wish you'd covered over the years.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Well, George Strait covered a song that went number one
for him that I got and we just did a
little comedy skit on it in my theater. You Look
So Good in Love I had recorded, and then George
Strait comes and records it and it becomes number one
song for him, and I said, he needs another number
one song, like I need another accident.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
You know what does he have fifty five of?
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Yeah, he's got the record of all all the number
one songs he's recorded in his career. But seventeen is
not too bad. You know, I'm not gonna I'm not
gonna take a back seat to anybody. I've had seventeen
number one records and the country charts, and I'm pleased
with that.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
JD.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
You've written this book Unconquered, and I noticed one of
the things that you weave in between Jimmy Swaggert and
Jerry Lee Lewis and Mickey Gilly in their lives is
rock and roll, country music and evangelical Christianity. I thought
that was an interesting mix of how these guys went
their different directions. But as Mickey just said, coming from
the same literally the same place.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Yeah, you know, I grew up in this Assembly of
God Pentecostal world at these street boys, that has changed
a lot, you know by the time I had come
along and was going through it. But and a lot
of readers may or may not like to hear this,
but there's a tremendous amount of similarity between an Assembly
of God or a Pentecostal song service and a rock
and roll concert. The message is different, but the upbeat movement,
(06:46):
the lively music and worship. It was the genesis of
some of these guys that were the forebears of rock
and roll, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis. These guys grew
up in the Semily God Church and that's where they
learned music.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Well, you know when they try to.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
When Julie went to the Bible School and watching Hounsh
you know, he took my Guide is Real and put
a beat to it and they didn't like that.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
That's exactly right.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
And we talked about that in the book.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Simbly of God that don't allow any music, I know,
Church of Christ.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Now it's Church of Christ that don't allow musical instruments,
they allow music. It's similarly God at every piece of
uh instrument.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
And when I when I recorded all fly away, you know,
I give a demonstration in my show when I'm doing
my show there, I'm doing my life story in music
at in my theater, and I do the little thing
on the I'll fly away where it's a lot of
cut time beach, you know, some glad morning when this
lap is over, fly away, and then I hit that
boogy beat you and it's got that rocking beach, you know,
(07:45):
some glad morning when this lap is, oh, I'll fly away,
you know. And and when I recorded it, my mom said, son,
we never did.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Like that church.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
You know.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
I was raised Southern Baptist, and I remember the first
time I came to Houston, and you go to a
church and they get up and get the happy feet
and go to running, and they had drums, and I
don't know why, but you know, we'd kind of been
taught God don't want you.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Doing all that shitting, don't exactly yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
The tongues and everything else, and you're thinking, I'm not
sure God's for that, and you figured, hey, you know what,
they're just worshiping in their own way.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Well, I told my mom one time.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
She was she was real into these the people that
pray for people, that divine healing thing. And I told
my mom one time, I said, Mom, let me tell
you what if if something happens to me and I'm
on my death bed, I would appreciate you praying for
me a lot more than what he's praying for these people,
because I got more comfortas than you've praying for me
than him.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
That is so true.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
I was talking real quickly. I was talking to a
George Klein, who was a close friend of Elvis, and
I was talking to him about the famous picture that
you've seen with a million dollar quartet Jerry Lewis, Elvis Presley,
Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and George was talking to Jerry
about the fact that in the tapes of that you
hear mainly Elvis and Jerry, and Jerry said, that's no mistake.
(08:59):
Those boys were Baptist boys, and only Elvis and I
knew all the lyrics. Right.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
You know, you think about that quartet that Sun Records
had and what a moment in time to have those
four guys, and it just amazing.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
When I never met I met all of them except Elvis.
But I did meet Elvis in pictures. If you don't
believe it, I got a picture I can show you. Yeah,
you want to break that picture out and show Michael.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
You've got a picture with you and Elvis.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
I got a picture that I think you get a
kick out of. In fact, i'll leave you a copy
of that.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
You'd like it.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
I would love it. While he's pulling that out.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
We call it instead of the million dollar quartet, it's
a two million dollar quintet.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
There you go, there you go. It's well, you can
hear their influence in your music. Oh yeah, we're gonna
have to post this.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
I met him in pictures.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Very nice. You know. One of the things I enjoy
watching They'll show on these shows Elvis after a long
concert and he would go in the back and they
would stay up all night performing gospel music. And how
much they enjoyed that. When you just sing for your
own enjoyment, what kind of tunes do you?
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Well?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Usually, if i'm performing, I'm listening to something. Maybe I'm
thinking about trying to record again. You know, one of
my favorite songs that I heard Elton John do Sorry
seems to be the hardest word. And I heard him
do that in the concert, and I said, Man, what
a great country song that could be.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
And so I made it run at it and.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
We made a pretty good demo on it, and I
was getting ready to record it, and the gentleman that
I had contacted to help me with the recording passed
away before I could get it done. But I'm still
hadn't given up on that song, beautiful. So that's a
great song. Beautiful songs makes such a great country music song.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
You know, I agree? Will you made stand by Me
into a country music song?
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Well, my producer, my producer picked that song for me
to do and rearranged it, and it turned out to
be quite an arrangement he put together on that, Jim
Ed Norman's wonted arrange it. He worked with Anne Murray
for quite some time too, and he was part of
the Eagles group. You know, I think he did arrangement
for the Eagles.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
You've you've chosen Houston as your home, Pasadena as your
home for most of these years. Why did you never
why'd you never move?
Speaker 2 (11:07):
I've lived here since the early fifties. I think I
came here in like fifty one to fifty two and
I've been here ever since. I like the town, I
like the people. I've just enjoyed the southern style of living.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Was there pressure to move to Nashville?
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Well, when when room full of roses he had, everybody
asked me if I was coming to Nashville. And I
think that's one reason why maybe the Country Music Association
never really recognized me in the field of music because
of Gillies and the way it was presented to them.
I don't know if they'll ever induct me into the
Hall of Fame, although they inducted me into the Texas
Country Music Hall of Fame and the Louisiana Hall of Fame,
the Colorado Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Did you see me on American Pickers?
Speaker 3 (11:46):
I did twenty eleven edition Live Live.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Long enough to make the History Channel. Well, you know
all that.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Old Gillies memorabiliya. It's funny, what a neat thing that hold.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
I gotta tell you a quick story when I I
got a call from a guy in Saint Louis and
he said, uh, Gilly, he sold that beer signed a
little cheap, then you so well?
Speaker 1 (12:06):
I got six hundred dollars start, he said. I to
give a thousand. I said, I can manufacture some more.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
I got an email, Hey, Michael, you have from Ralph Robbins.
Do you ever wonder what happened to the original Gilly sign. Well,
it's in the parking lot of our favorite restaurant two Cities,
Grill and Cantina. There's a yellow dant lying down the
middle of the restaurant, half in passing in a half
in Deer Park, and they have tucked away they have
that that famous sign and we all love to see it.
And I don't know if that's true.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Maybe well, I don't know. I don't know where he'sa at.
I'd have to go back and take a look. Is
it in Deer Park or passing in?
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Well, they say it's halfway in Deer Park, halfway in Spencer.
It's it's tucked away behind a chase bank at the
corner of Spencer Highway and Red Bluff.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Okay, there's a there's a sign there that the old
Gilly sign. Uh that was that sat out front and
Jim Atkins on the property at that time, and he
asked if he could have that sign out front. He
kind of got it and moved it and Heady where
it would light up, and I think maybe it got
damage in some weather. But uh, I know a big
sign out there with the era is still up there.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Of the people who wrote songs for you and wrote
songs for your contemporaries, who was the fine Who is
a songwriter you'd admire the most?
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Well, my two favorite writers back when I was trying
to get started in the music industry, of course, with
room full of roses hitting was Bill Rice and Jerry Foster,
and they wrote a lot of great songs for a
lot of different people. They wrote She's Pulling Me Back Again,
Here Comes the Hurt, and don't the Girls Get Pretty Close?
(13:31):
The Time was written by a guy in California by
the name of Baker Knight, and my producer found that
song and I listened to it and I said, wow, man,
what a great idea.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
For a song.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
And I didn't want to do it at first, but
he didn't convinced me if I used that boogie beat
to it that I could I could perform the song,
and sure enough I did. I'm really surprised that some
rock group has not recorded that song.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
I'm surprised because it's such a great tune and It's
got such a funny message, but in a fun message,
and it's.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Such a true story when you think about it. I
refer to it as the national anthem of hanky talk
in the world.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
It is sadly a true story.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Jamie Well, I got to say one other think you'd
be surprised how many women asked me to do that song.
And I finally figured out that the guy is starting
to look better than me cross Town.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
I think we figured out what causes all that, right,
it's the alcohol.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
JD.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
Davis. The book is called Unconquered. We can get it
pretty much anywhere, and we've put a link by the
way on our website at Michael Berry dot iHeart dot
com and get a copy of the book about the
Great Mickey Gilly and his cousins Jimmy Swagger and Jerry
Lee Lewis. Very good stuff, very much.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Just hope that they do a film before I passed
to the other side of the world. Oh my, I'd
like to see that, you know. See, I try to
make it as authentic as they possibly can, and that's
the main thing, the reason why I wanted to do
the interviews with JD.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Davis.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
You know, I don't know how much we talked about
this off air, and I don't know how much you
want to talk about this. I'll ask you this from
my last question, But the number one thing we got
in emails was was people who, as I said, feel
like they really know you. You're part of our community,
and they've grown up to your music and your life,
and they've lived your life with you, wanting to know
about your health and how you're doing it.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Well.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
I'll be buried and pass it in and when I pass.
Right now, I'm seventy six years old. The fall really
got to me. I can't play the piano right now,
but I hadn't given up. I'm doing reflexology on my hands,
I'm doing spinal decompression on my back. I'm doing coal
aition of therapy on my left side, so I damaged
the left side more. I was at TIER here in
Houston for about six months doing rehab.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
I can walk.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
The doctors at one time didn't think I'd ever walk.
But I'm walking, and I'm getting along fairly well.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
To be as old as I am.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
How many of the doctors ask for your autograph. That's
got to be a little awkward, right could you just
focus on my shoulder and stop asking for my audio.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Well, you know, I tell the story. I tell the
story when I'm doing my last story, I said, folks,
I said. The last twenty years, I've tried to wipe
myself off of the face of the earth. I've had
heart surgery, I've had brain surgery. My appendic's broke. I
phished to get on my airplane and flow off. I
fell and hurt in my back. I've had two airplane crashes.
I walked away in boll of that. I've changed my
dat I'm now cat food.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
You still look like a million bucks. That's an amazing thing.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Well, I'm holding together pretty good. I've gained the weight
back that I shouldn't have gained. I went down for
one hundred and eighty six pounds down to one hundred and
thirty forty eight, and I couldn't hold my pants on it.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
But now I'm back too big.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
And I do a little thing in my show, and
I tell the people and say, look what this trainer
did to my muscle. Here I'm talking about my tubby.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Well, I'll tell you this on behalf of a lot
of fans in all across the country. Here in Houston
and across the country. We wish you the best and
it's been a fun ride.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
For us as well. Michael, I thank you.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
And if you get a chance to come to Brnston.
I went about you, your family and all your constituents
out there's listening to you. If they get a chance
to come to Brentson, we got NonStop flights right out
of the Hobby on air trens right into Branson. And
if they get a chance to come to Brnson, I
think they have a great time to enjoy this. Say
if it's a great vacation place and my theater's there.
I'm doing three shows Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday nights during
(16:55):
the summer months. I'll go back to Wednesday afternoons.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
During the fall.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
So if they get a chance to come to Brnson,
come over to the restaurant. We're saying karaoke together.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
This sounds like a lot of fun. Mickey Gilly, thanks
for being our guest.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Thanks.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
If you like the Michael Berry Show and podcast, please
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(17:26):
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Podcast is produced by Ramon Roebliss, The King of Ding.
Executive producer is Chad Nakanishi. Jim Mudd is the creative director.
(17:50):
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Director of Research is Sandy Peterson. Emily Bull is our
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into our production. Where possible, we give credit, Where not,
(18:13):
we take all the credit for ourselves. God bless the
memory of Rush Limbaugh. Long live Elvis, be a simple
man like Leonard Skinnard told you, and God bless America. Finally,
if you know a veteran suffering from PTSD, call Camp
Hope at eight seven seven seven one seven PTSD and
(18:38):
a combat veteran will answer the phone to provide free counseling.
The Michael Berry Show.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Okay, you asked me about the influence that people had
on my career. One thing I can relate to is
Roy Orbison because back in nineteen sixty four, I'm riding
down the road one day listening to Paul ber lynn
on and he played Roy Orbison version of Lonely Wine
and it was on an album, and I went and
(00:23):
because I fell in love with a song, and I
went and recorded it. I took Paul the single and
I always thought, if I could ever get Paul Burlin
to play a song by Mickey Gilly, that's going to
be successful. And sure enough, the record took off and
started to sell. And I stayed in this one club
with is It Wrong? And Lonely Wine that I had
recorded with Kenny on the base on is It Wrong
and Lonely Wine that I recorded Jones Sounds Recording Studio
(00:45):
in the Heights. Those two songs kept me working at
the Nest Dell Club on Spencer Highway for ten years now.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Is that where he brought Elvis the one time? Because
Paul ber Lynne told me a story about him bringing
Elvis to some club off of Spencer Highway.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
You know, I don't know if I don't remember Elvis
ever been on Spencer, but I do know he came
to Houston at one time, but I was I didn't
get I never got a chance to meet him. Although
I didn't meet, I didn't beat him in the pictures
I had.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
I had Paul Berln on my show on and we
had so much fun just going through the memories and
people would call in and tell stories of when they'd
met him in their high school reunion he'd played, or
whatever else. And I had Roy Head call in. He
was on tour in Illinois, and Roy Head called in,
Johnny Nash called in. But Paul Berlin, what a legend
in Houston radio. Is still on the radio today.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Well, he's had a big influence on my career because
I always thought that if I could get him to
play one of my recordings. I remember when he played
Jerry Lee's Crazy Arms when I first took him seventy
eight RPM, and I always said, you know, Paul Berlin
would play one of my recordings, I'm gonna be successful
in the industry because he was such a fabulous DJ
in the Houston area.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Do you listen to a lot of music now Mickey Gillis.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
I used to listen to quite a bit, but uh,
you know, I i'd really pay attention more of what
I'm doing in my career more anything else. What's left
of it. That is, being seventy six years old, I
don't have a lot of you know, major time left
in my life. But I'm having a great time in
doing what I'm doing. I'm trying to keep my name
out there, you know, with the Gillies in Vegas at
the Treasure Island, the one in Dallas with my name
(02:16):
on it we just opened, and Gillies up and Chalktaw
Nations and Durant, Oklahoma, and uh, I'm just trying to
keep the logo out there and keep the things going
with you.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
And you're still performing ten months out of the year,
three nights a week, and.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
I'm doing some road dates and I'm working three days
a week during the summer months there in my theater Sunday,
Monday and Tuesday night. And i have six working six
nights a week in my theater and every night and
I'll go over to the restaurant Saint karaoke with people.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Really I'm a glutten.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Oh my goodness, They must enjoyed that nobody would left
to photograph all that, because, believe it.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
I'm a glutton for punishment when it comes to music.
I enjoyed the camaraderie with the audience to have a
great time with the people. You got time for a
quick story.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Making Gillies in the studio, I got town for.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
I had a lady come through the You get a kick
out of this.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
This lady comes through the autograph line the other other
day and she sits down beside me, and she has
an autograph and I signed it for and I took
a picture with her. And I'm, you know, very cordial
with all the fans that come through, you know, And
I'm chatting with.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Her a little bit, trying to chat with everybody.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
And she looked at me. She says, I bet I'm
older than you are. And I said, well, maybe, ma'am
you might be. How old are and she said, I'm
eighty five years old. I said, wow, yeah, you got
me just a few years, not much, but a few.
I said, you're looking good to be eighty five. What
are you doing tonight, honey? And she said the same thing.
You're doing nothing.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Oh I like it. Some of the best material for
people come through the autograph line.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
It must be such a thrill to see people because
of your career and because it's what it's meant to people.
You know, I think there are people and not not
to criticize anyone else who did a song and moved
on down the road, but for you, it was so
intimate to so many people's lives.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
The camaraderie I have with the fans is very rewarding
to me too, you know.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
I mean, I get up and take pictures.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
People come through the autograph and I'll stand up, and
as bad as my legs are and I can't stand
up for a long period of time right now, but
I get up out of the chair and I take
pictures with him and I try to look, you know,
like you know, I want to be when I was
thirty eight years old.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
I'm not that old. Double it. I'm doubled that.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
But I'm I'm doing a show for Lucas All at
my restaurant and Branson, And like I said, I'm a
glad to punishing when it comes to work. I'm a workaholic. Actually,
we're doing Lucas All. People ordered thirteen shows for my restaurant,
that I'm doing. I made him a pilot show and
they liked it. I'm trying to trying to go back
and revisit Gilly's place.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
When you look at what the music industry has become today,
better or worse the same, what do you what do
you see out there?
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Well? Some of the acts that I really really get
a kick out of.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
I mean I really like Toby Keith, I like George Straight,
I like Garth Brooks. Of course, Garth is sort of
semi retired now. I don't think he's doing very much anymore.
But some of the acts have come along that's really good,
a lot of credibility. I look back at what's happening
with me and Johnny Lee when we first started, you know,
and back when John Travolta first did the film The
(05:09):
Urban Cowboy, and it launched me and him in the
stratusphere all of a sudden, and I, of course I
traveled with Conwin Loretta for quite.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
A few years.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
I've had a very good career.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
I mean, I cannot complain, like I said before, if
it ended tomorrow, it's been a great ride.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Is there a song that when you hear it just
always puts you in a good mood that somebody else
is that you wish you'd covered over the years.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Well, George Strait covered a song that went number one
for him that I got and we just did a
little comedy skit on it in my theater. You Look
So Good in Love I had recorded, and then George
Strait comes and records it and it becomes number one
song for him, and I said, he needs another number
one song, like I need another accident.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
You know what does he have fifty five of?
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Yeah, he's got the record of all all the number
one songs he's recorded in his career. But seventeen is
not too bad. You know, I'm not gonna I'm not
gonna take a back seat to anybody. I've had seventeen
number one records and the country charts, and I'm pleased
with that.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
JD.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
You've written this book Unconquered, and I noticed one of
the things that you weave in between Jimmy Swaggert and
Jerry Lee Lewis and Mickey Gilly in their lives is
rock and roll, country music and evangelical Christianity. I thought
that was an interesting mix of how these guys went
their different directions. But as Mickey just said, coming from
the same literally the same place.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Yeah, you know, I grew up in this Assembly of
God Pentecostal world at these street boys, that has changed
a lot, you know by the time I had come
along and was going through it. But and a lot
of readers may or may not like to hear this,
but there's a tremendous amount of similarity between an Assembly
of God or a Pentecostal song service and a rock
and roll concert. The message is different, but the upbeat movement,
(06:46):
the lively music and worship. It was the genesis of
some of these guys that were the forebears of rock
and roll, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis. These guys grew
up in the Semily God Church and that's where they
learned music.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Well, you know when they try to.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
When Julie went to the Bible School and watching Hounsh
you know, he took my Guide is Real and put
a beat to it and they didn't like that.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
That's exactly right.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
And we talked about that in the book.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Simbly of God that don't allow any music, I know,
Church of Christ.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Now it's Church of Christ that don't allow musical instruments,
they allow music. It's similarly God at every piece of
uh instrument.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
And when I when I recorded all fly away, you know,
I give a demonstration in my show when I'm doing
my show there, I'm doing my life story in music
at in my theater, and I do the little thing
on the I'll fly away where it's a lot of
cut time beach, you know, some glad morning when this
lap is over, fly away, and then I hit that
boogy beat you and it's got that rocking beach, you know,
(07:45):
some glad morning when this lap is, oh, I'll fly away,
you know. And and when I recorded it, my mom said, son,
we never did.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Like that church.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
You know.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
I was raised Southern Baptist, and I remember the first
time I came to Houston, and you go to a
church and they get up and get the happy feet
and go to running, and they had drums, and I
don't know why, but you know, we'd kind of been
taught God don't want you.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Doing all that shitting, don't exactly yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
The tongues and everything else, and you're thinking, I'm not
sure God's for that, and you figured, hey, you know what,
they're just worshiping in their own way.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Well, I told my mom one time.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
She was she was real into these the people that
pray for people, that divine healing thing. And I told
my mom one time, I said, Mom, let me tell
you what if if something happens to me and I'm
on my death bed, I would appreciate you praying for
me a lot more than what he's praying for these people,
because I got more comfortas than you've praying for me
than him.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
That is so true.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
I was talking real quickly. I was talking to a
George Klein, who was a close friend of Elvis, and
I was talking to him about the famous picture that
you've seen with a million dollar quartet Jerry Lewis, Elvis Presley,
Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and George was talking to Jerry
about the fact that in the tapes of that you
hear mainly Elvis and Jerry, and Jerry said, that's no mistake.
(08:59):
Those boys were Baptist boys, and only Elvis and I
knew all the lyrics. Right.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
You know, you think about that quartet that Sun Records
had and what a moment in time to have those
four guys, and it just amazing.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
When I never met I met all of them except Elvis.
But I did meet Elvis in pictures. If you don't
believe it, I got a picture I can show you. Yeah,
you want to break that picture out and show Michael.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
You've got a picture with you and Elvis.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
I got a picture that I think you get a
kick out of. In fact, i'll leave you a copy
of that.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
You'd like it.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
I would love it. While he's pulling that out.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
We call it instead of the million dollar quartet, it's
a two million dollar quintet.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
There you go, there you go. It's well, you can
hear their influence in your music. Oh yeah, we're gonna
have to post this.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
I met him in pictures.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Very nice. You know. One of the things I enjoy
watching They'll show on these shows Elvis after a long
concert and he would go in the back and they
would stay up all night performing gospel music. And how
much they enjoyed that. When you just sing for your
own enjoyment, what kind of tunes do you?
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Well?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Usually, if i'm performing, I'm listening to something. Maybe I'm
thinking about trying to record again. You know, one of
my favorite songs that I heard Elton John do Sorry
seems to be the hardest word. And I heard him
do that in the concert, and I said, Man, what
a great country song that could be.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
And so I made it run at it and.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
We made a pretty good demo on it, and I
was getting ready to record it, and the gentleman that
I had contacted to help me with the recording passed
away before I could get it done. But I'm still
hadn't given up on that song, beautiful. So that's a
great song. Beautiful songs makes such a great country music song.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
You know, I agree? Will you made stand by Me
into a country music song?
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Well, my producer, my producer picked that song for me
to do and rearranged it, and it turned out to
be quite an arrangement he put together on that, Jim
Ed Norman's wonted arrange it. He worked with Anne Murray
for quite some time too, and he was part of
the Eagles group. You know, I think he did arrangement
for the Eagles.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
You've you've chosen Houston as your home, Pasadena as your
home for most of these years. Why did you never
why'd you never move?
Speaker 2 (11:07):
I've lived here since the early fifties. I think I
came here in like fifty one to fifty two and
I've been here ever since. I like the town, I
like the people. I've just enjoyed the southern style of living.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Was there pressure to move to Nashville?
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Well, when when room full of roses he had, everybody
asked me if I was coming to Nashville. And I
think that's one reason why maybe the Country Music Association
never really recognized me in the field of music because
of Gillies and the way it was presented to them.
I don't know if they'll ever induct me into the
Hall of Fame, although they inducted me into the Texas
Country Music Hall of Fame and the Louisiana Hall of Fame,
the Colorado Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Did you see me on American Pickers?
Speaker 3 (11:46):
I did twenty eleven edition Live Live.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Long enough to make the History Channel. Well, you know
all that.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Old Gillies memorabiliya. It's funny, what a neat thing that hold.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
I gotta tell you a quick story when I I
got a call from a guy in Saint Louis and
he said, uh, Gilly, he sold that beer signed a
little cheap, then you so well?
Speaker 1 (12:06):
I got six hundred dollars start, he said. I to
give a thousand. I said, I can manufacture some more.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
I got an email, Hey, Michael, you have from Ralph Robbins.
Do you ever wonder what happened to the original Gilly sign. Well,
it's in the parking lot of our favorite restaurant two Cities,
Grill and Cantina. There's a yellow dant lying down the
middle of the restaurant, half in passing in a half
in Deer Park, and they have tucked away they have
that that famous sign and we all love to see it.
And I don't know if that's true.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Maybe well, I don't know. I don't know where he'sa at.
I'd have to go back and take a look. Is
it in Deer Park or passing in?
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Well, they say it's halfway in Deer Park, halfway in Spencer.
It's it's tucked away behind a chase bank at the
corner of Spencer Highway and Red Bluff.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Okay, there's a there's a sign there that the old
Gilly sign. Uh that was that sat out front and
Jim Atkins on the property at that time, and he
asked if he could have that sign out front. He
kind of got it and moved it and Heady where
it would light up, and I think maybe it got
damage in some weather. But uh, I know a big
sign out there with the era is still up there.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Of the people who wrote songs for you and wrote
songs for your contemporaries, who was the fine Who is
a songwriter you'd admire the most?
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Well, my two favorite writers back when I was trying
to get started in the music industry, of course, with
room full of roses hitting was Bill Rice and Jerry Foster,
and they wrote a lot of great songs for a
lot of different people. They wrote She's Pulling Me Back Again,
Here Comes the Hurt, and don't the Girls Get Pretty Close?
(13:31):
The Time was written by a guy in California by
the name of Baker Knight, and my producer found that
song and I listened to it and I said, wow, man,
what a great idea.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
For a song.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
And I didn't want to do it at first, but
he didn't convinced me if I used that boogie beat
to it that I could I could perform the song,
and sure enough I did. I'm really surprised that some
rock group has not recorded that song.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
I'm surprised because it's such a great tune and It's
got such a funny message, but in a fun message,
and it's.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Such a true story when you think about it. I
refer to it as the national anthem of hanky talk
in the world.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
It is sadly a true story.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Jamie Well, I got to say one other think you'd
be surprised how many women asked me to do that song.
And I finally figured out that the guy is starting
to look better than me cross Town.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
I think we figured out what causes all that, right,
it's the alcohol.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
JD.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
Davis. The book is called Unconquered. We can get it
pretty much anywhere, and we've put a link by the
way on our website at Michael Berry dot iHeart dot
com and get a copy of the book about the
Great Mickey Gilly and his cousins Jimmy Swagger and Jerry
Lee Lewis. Very good stuff, very much.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Just hope that they do a film before I passed
to the other side of the world. Oh my, I'd
like to see that, you know. See, I try to
make it as authentic as they possibly can, and that's
the main thing, the reason why I wanted to do
the interviews with JD.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Davis.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
You know, I don't know how much we talked about
this off air, and I don't know how much you
want to talk about this. I'll ask you this from
my last question, But the number one thing we got
in emails was was people who, as I said, feel
like they really know you. You're part of our community,
and they've grown up to your music and your life,
and they've lived your life with you, wanting to know
about your health and how you're doing it.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Well.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
I'll be buried and pass it in and when I pass.
Right now, I'm seventy six years old. The fall really
got to me. I can't play the piano right now,
but I hadn't given up. I'm doing reflexology on my hands,
I'm doing spinal decompression on my back. I'm doing coal
aition of therapy on my left side, so I damaged
the left side more. I was at TIER here in
Houston for about six months doing rehab.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
I can walk.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
The doctors at one time didn't think I'd ever walk.
But I'm walking, and I'm getting along fairly well.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
To be as old as I am.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
How many of the doctors ask for your autograph. That's
got to be a little awkward, right could you just
focus on my shoulder and stop asking for my audio.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Well, you know, I tell the story. I tell the
story when I'm doing my last story, I said, folks,
I said. The last twenty years, I've tried to wipe
myself off of the face of the earth. I've had
heart surgery, I've had brain surgery. My appendic's broke. I
phished to get on my airplane and flow off. I
fell and hurt in my back. I've had two airplane crashes.
I walked away in boll of that. I've changed my
dat I'm now cat food.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
You still look like a million bucks. That's an amazing thing.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Well, I'm holding together pretty good. I've gained the weight
back that I shouldn't have gained. I went down for
one hundred and eighty six pounds down to one hundred and
thirty forty eight, and I couldn't hold my pants on it.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
But now I'm back too big.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
And I do a little thing in my show, and
I tell the people and say, look what this trainer
did to my muscle. Here I'm talking about my tubby.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Well, I'll tell you this on behalf of a lot
of fans in all across the country. Here in Houston
and across the country. We wish you the best and
it's been a fun ride.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
For us as well. Michael, I thank you.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
And if you get a chance to come to Brnston.
I went about you, your family and all your constituents
out there's listening to you. If they get a chance
to come to Brentson, we got NonStop flights right out
of the Hobby on air trens right into Branson. And
if they get a chance to come to Brnson, I
think they have a great time to enjoy this. Say
if it's a great vacation place and my theater's there.
I'm doing three shows Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday nights during
(16:55):
the summer months. I'll go back to Wednesday afternoons.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
During the fall.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
So if they get a chance to come to Brnson,
come over to the restaurant. We're saying karaoke together.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
This sounds like a lot of fun. Mickey Gilly, thanks
for being our guest.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Thanks.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
If you like the Michael Berry Show and podcast, please
tell one friend and if you're so inclined, write a
nice review of our podcast. Comments, suggestions, questions, and interest
in being a corporate sponsor and partner can be communicated
directly to the show at our email address, Michael at
(17:26):
Michael Berryshow dot com, or simply by clicking on our
website Michael Berryshow dot com. The Michael Berry Show and
Podcast is produced by Ramon Roebliss, The King of Ding.
Executive producer is Chad Nakanishi. Jim Mudd is the creative director.
(17:50):
Voices Jingles, Tomfoolery and Shenanigans are provided by Chance McLain.
Director of Research is Sandy Peterson. Emily Bull is our
assistant listener and superfan. Contributions are appreciated and often incorporated
into our production. Where possible, we give credit, Where not,
(18:13):
we take all the credit for ourselves. God bless the
memory of Rush Limbaugh. Long live Elvis, be a simple
man like Leonard Skinnard told you, and God bless America. Finally,
if you know a veteran suffering from PTSD, call Camp
Hope at eight seven seven seven one seven PTSD and
(18:38):
a combat veteran will answer the phone to provide free counseling.
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