"My Maria" is a song co-written by

B. W. Stevenson 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 S ...

and Daniel Moore. Lindy Blaskey, music publisher at ABC/Dunhill Records thought Daniel Moore had a possible hit with his verse and chorus, but couldn't get him to finish the song. So Lindy Blaskey took what Daniel had so far and asked B.W. Stevenson to finish writing it with an additional verse. David Kershenbaum, Stevenson's producer at RCA agreed with Lindy Blaskey that it sounded like a hit and produced and released "My Maria" as a single in August 1973. The song became a Top 10 hit, peaking at No. 9 on the US pop chart. It remained in the

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...

for twelve weeks. In addition, "My Maria" spent one week at No. 1 on the US adult contemporary chart. The guitar portion of the track was played by

Larry Carlton Larry Eugene Carlton (born March 2, 1948) is an American guitarist who built his career as a studio musician in the 1970s and 1980s for acts such as Steely Dan and Joni Mitchell. He has participated in thousands of recording sessions, recorde ...

. Whitburn, Joel (1996). ''The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits'', 6th Edition (Billboard Publications) A cover version 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 solo ...

reached No. 1 on the US country music chart and won the 1997 Grammy for Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

Chart history

Brooks & Dunn version

When

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

duo

released a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of "My Maria" in 1996, the song reached No. 1 on the US country chart. Their version of the song appears on their album '' Borderline'', released in 1996 on

Arista Records Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertainmen ...

. In addition, their version was the No. 1 country song of 1996 according to Billboard, and won the duo its second Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Vocal Group or Duo. In addition, this song was performed as their last performance as a duo at the 2010

ACM Awards The Academy of Country Music Awards, also known as the ACM Awards, were first held in 1966, honoring the industry's accomplishments during the previous year. It was the first country music awards program held by a major organization. The academy ...

on April 18, 2010, as well at the 50th anniversary of the ACM Awards on April 19, 2015. In 2019, Brooks & Dunn re-recorded "My Maria" with American country music artist

Thomas Rhett Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

for their album ''

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''.

Chart history

"My Maria" debuted at number 30 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs chart for the week of April 6, 1996.

Year-end charts

References

{{authority control 1973 singles 1996 singles 1973 songs B. W. Stevenson songs Brooks & Dunn songs Thomas Rhett songs Billboard Hot Country Songs number-one singles of the year Songs written by Daniel Moore (musician) Song recordings produced by Don Cook RCA Records singles Arista Nashville singles Arista Records singles

Chart history

Brooks & Dunn version

Chart history

Year-end charts

See also

References