Louis Charles "B.W." Stevenson (October 5, 1949 – April 28, 1988) was an American

country pop Country pop (also known as pop country or urban cowboy) is a fusion genre of country music and pop music that was developed by members of the country genre out of a desire to reach a larger, mainstream audience. Country pop music blends genres ...

singer and musician, working in a genre now called

progressive country Progressive country is a subgenre of country music developed in the early 1970s.''Cosmic Cowboys and New Hicks: The Countercultural Sounds of Austin's Progressive Country Music Scene'', Stimeling, Travis David. History In the late 1960s and earl ...

. "B.W." stood for "Buckwheat". Stevenson was born in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, United States, and attended W.H. Adamson High School with other musicians

Michael Martin Murphey Michael Martin Murphey (born March 14, 1945) is an American singer-songwriter best known for writing and performing Western music, country music and popular music. A multiple Grammy nominee, Murphey has six gold albums, including ''Cowboy Songs' ...

Ray Wylie Hubbard Ray Wylie Hubbard (born November 13, 1946) is an American singer and songwriter. Early life Hubbard was born in the town of Soper, Oklahoma. His family moved to Oak Cliff in southwest Dallas, Texas, in 1954. He attended W. H. Adamson High Scho ...

, and

Larry Groce Larry Groce (born April 22, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and radio host. From 1983 until 2021, Groce served as the host and artistic director of '' Mountain Stage'', a two-hour live music radio program produced by West Virginia Public ...

. Stevenson performed and was taped for the intended pilot of ''

Austin City Limits ''Austin City Limits'' is an American live music television program recorded and produced by Austin PBS. The show helped Austin become widely known in the United States as the "Live Music Capital of the World", and is the only television show to ...

'' on October 13, 1974. However, the recording quality was deemed too poor to broadcast.

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album '' Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of '' Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and '' Stardust'' (1 ...

's performance taped the following night was aired as the first episode of the program.

"My Maria"

Stevenson's biggest hit was " My Maria", co-written with Daniel Moore. "My Maria" reached No. 9 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for the week ending September 29, 1973, and was covered later by

Brooks & Dunn Brooks & Dunn are an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, both of whom are vocalists and songwriters. The duo was founded in 1990 through the suggestion of Tim DuBois. Before their formation, both members were so ...

, 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), "Down to the Station" (No. 82), and the original version of Daniel Moore's " Shambala" (No. 66); a cover version of the latter by

Three Dog Night Three Dog Night is an American rock band formed in 1967, with founding members consisting of vocalists Danny Hutton, Cory Wells, and Chuck Negron. This lineup was soon augmented by Jimmy Greenspoon (keyboards), Joe Schermie (bass), Michael A ...

, reached No. 3. Stevenson recorded one

contemporary Christian Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...

album titled ''Lifeline'', produced by Chris Christian, his neighbor in Beverly Hills, and it had success on Christian radio with the hit "Headin' Home". His album ''Rainbow Down the Road'' was completed posthumously and included a duet with

on "Heart of the Country". Author Jan Reid devotes a chapter to Stevenson in his book ''The Improbable Rise of Redneck Rock'', dubbing him "The Voice".

Death

Stevenson died following

heart valve A heart valve is a one-way valve that allows blood to flow in one direction through the chambers of the heart. Four valves are usually present in a mammalian heart and together they determine the pathway of blood flow through the heart. A heart ...

surgery after developing a

staph infection A staphylococcal infection or staph infection is an infection caused by members of the ''Staphylococcus'' genus of bacteria. These bacteria commonly inhabit the skin and nose where they are innocuous, but may enter the body through cuts or abrasio ...

at the age of 38. Since his death, Poor David's Pub in Dallas has held an annual songwriting competition in his memory.

Discography

*1972 ''B.W. Stevenson'' (RCA) *1972 ''Lead Free'' (RCA) *1973 ''My Maria'' (RCA) *1974 ''Calabasas'' (RCA) *1975 ''We Be Sailin (Warner Bros) *1977 ''The Best of B.W. Stevenson'' (RCA) *1977 ''Lost Feeling'' (Warner Bros) *1980 ''Lifeline'' (Home Sweet Home Records) *1990 ''Rainbow Down the Road'' (Amazing Records) *2000 ''Very Best of B.W. Stevenson'' (Collectables) *2003 ''Lead Free/B.W. Stevenson'' (Collectables) *2003 ''My Maria/Calabasas'' (Collectables) *2005 ''We Be Sailin'/Lost Feeling'' (Collectables) *2013 ''Southern Nights'' (Ameritz Music Ltd) *2018 ''Encore'' (Pedernales Records)

References

External links

Oldies.com bio
*
Bio of B.W.Stevenson including cause of death
*
L'Epopea del Country Rock
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stevenson, B.W. 1949 births 1988 deaths Musicians from Dallas American country singer-songwriters American male singer-songwriters 20th-century American singers Place of birth missing Place of death missing Singer-songwriters from Texas RCA Records artists People from Oak Cliff, Texas Country musicians from Texas 20th-century American male singers

"My Maria"

Death

Discography

See also

References

External links