My Maria

Louis Charles "B.W." Stevenson (October 5, 1949 – April 28, 1988) was an American country pop singer and musician, working in a genre now called progressive country. "B.W." stood for "Buckwheat". Stevenson was born in Dallas, Texas, United States, and attended W.H. Adamson High School with other musicians Michael Martin Murphey, Ray Wylie Hubbard, and Larry Groce.

Stevenson performed and was taped for the intended pilot of Austin City Limits on October 13, 1974. However, the recording quality was deemed too poor to broadcast. Willie Nelson's performance taped the following night was aired as the first episode of the program.

Stevenson's biggest hit was "My Maria", co-written with Daniel Moore. Lindy Blaskey, Moore's music publisher at ABC/Dunhill Records heard Daniel's one verse and chorus of "My Maria" but Moore thought it was too bubble-gum sounding. Lindy Blaskey gave the verse and chorus to B.W. Stevenson and asked him to write an additional verse. When finished, David Kershenbaum, Stevenson's producer at RCA Records, agreed with Lindy Blaskey that the song sounded like a hit. "My Maria" reached No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending September 29, 1973, and was covered later by Brooks & Dunn, for whom it was a three-week No. 1 country hit in mid-1996. Among Stevenson's other singles are "The River of Love" (No. 53), another Moore song; "Down to the Station" (No. 82); and the original version of Daniel Moore's "Shambala" (No. 66). A cover version of "Shambala" by Three Dog Night, reached No. 3. - *** Fair Use Disclaimer - I do not own the rights to this video or music. All rights belong to the artist(s) and their publisher(s) or producer(s). ***