Country singer, songwriter, and musician B.W. Stevenson was working on a song in 1973 that his publisher liked and encouraged him to finish. The song, “My Maria,” ended up being released as a single for Stevenson, peaking at number nine on the charts, the only of his songs to ever do so.
However, in 1996, country duo Brooks & Dunn released their cover of “My Maria,” which was also included on their album Borderline. The single reached the top spot on the country charts, and peaked at number 79 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song spent three weeks at the top of the country charts and, according to Billboard, was the biggest country song of 1996.
The song was initially the one-hit wonder of Stevenson’s career, however, the song’s co-writer, Daniel Moore, stated that the Brooks & Dunn cover was substantially more successful. He said, “The original sold 950,000 singles, Brooks & Dunn’s version has sold over 6 million. The original version got about 1,500,000 US radio performances. The Brooks & Dunn version is over 6,500,000 US radio performances and still going.”
While the cover of “My Maria” ended up being a massive success for Brooks & Dunn, Dunn was initially hesitant about recording the track, as they had never dabbled in covers before. However, this proved to be a good choice for the pair, as their cover of “My Maria” was certified triple platinum by the RIAA and secured the duo their second Grammy for Best Country Performance by a Vocal Group or Duo.
In 2009, Brooks & Dunn announced that after their tour, called The Last Rodeo, commenced, they would be splitting up as a musical pair. “My Maria” was their last performance at the ACM Awards before their inital split took place in 2010.
The duo reunited for a recording of the track with Thomas Rhett for their 2019 album, Reboot, an album with reimagined recordings of all of their most famous and lauded works over the course of their career.
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