This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll meet a man with a voice as big as Texas.
Louis Charles Stevenson, better known as “B. W.” Stevenson, was born on October 5, 1949, in Dallas. He attended high school with other future singer-songwriters, including Michael Martin Murphey and Ray Wylie Hubbard. In the 1960s, Stevenson headed to Los Angeles, hoping to find musical success with his soaring vocals and catchy pop-country tunes. However, by the early 1970s, Stevenson had given up on Los Angeles and returned to Texas, where he scored a Top Ten hit in 1973.
Some of B.W. Stevenson’s hits were later recorded by other artists, including Three Dog Night and Brooks and Dunn. Tragically, Stevenson died at the age of 38 while undergoing heart surgery.
Next time on This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll meet a legislator’s son who lived the life of a traveling troubadour.