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Mickey Gilley, the country music icon whose honky-tonk birthed a cultural phenomenon, died peacefully on Saturday in Branson, Missouri, with friends and family by his side. He was 86. A Mississippi native, Gilley moved to Pasadena, just southeast of downtown Houston, in 1971 and opened his namesake honky-tonk, Gilley’s, which he touted as the largest in the world. The airplane hangar–size joint, regulars who referred to themselves as “Gilleyrats,” and a famed mechanical bull served as inspiration for the movie Urban Cowboy. The John Travolta and Debra Winger blockbuster, which was shot on location and around Houston, helped bring honky-tonks, country dancing, and Western wear into the mainstream. As former Texas Monthly editor Gregory Curtis wrote, “The movie elevated what had until then been a purely…

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