On This Day in 1996, Brooks & Dunn Were at No. 1 With a Cover of a Re-Worked Three Dog Night Hit

On this day (May 27) in 1996, Brooks & Dunn were at the top of the Hot Country Songs chart with “My Maria.” It stayed at No. 1 for three consecutive weeks, giving the duo their tenth chart-topper. It also brought them the Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. However, if Ronnie Dunn had gotten his way, they would have passed on the song.

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At the time, Brooks & Dunn didn’t record cover songs. They wrote or co-wrote every song on their debut album. Their second album contained songs they didn’t write. However, they were the first to record them. The same is true for their next LP. However, things changed when it came time to record Borderline. Dunn wanted to keep it that way.

[RELATED: On This Day in 1994, Brooks & Dunn Became the Best-Selling Country Music Duo of All Time]

“My Maria” had already been a hit for B.W. Stevenson in 1973. It landed in the top 10 on the Hot 100 and topped the Adult Contemporary chart. As a result, Dunn had no interest in cutting it. “I didn’t want to start doing cover songs,” he told Billboard. “We didn’t start doing cover songs when we were a bar band.” Fortunately, label executive Tim DuBois and producer Don Cook convinced him to change his mind.

The Wild Pre-Brooks & Dunn History of “My Maria”

Long before it was a hit for Brooks & Dunn, “My Maria” started its life as a completely different song.

Daniel Moore wrote “Shambala,” and B.W. Stevenson released it as a single in April 1973. His version of the song peaked at No. 66 on the Hot 100. Three Dog Night released their version two weeks after Stevenson’s hit the airwaves, in May 1973. Theirs went to No. 3 on the chart. The song is about the mythical kingdom of Shambhala, which was written about in several ancient texts connected to Eastern mysticism.

According to Songfacts, Stevenson and Moore sat down with “Shambala” and rewrote it. Their efforts transformed a song about a mythical utopia into an ode to a beautiful woman.

“I probably would never have finished ‘My Maria’ without B.W.’s assistance,” Moore said. “I had been working on the song for two years at the point I showed it to him. Of course, he wrote the rest of the lyrics in about 15 minutes. Bless his heart.”

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