Stevie was NOT seen in the early days of FM the way she is seen now. She was openly mocked by most of the men in radio... you used to be able to find links on youtube to vintage recordings of radio DJs mocking how she sang, the infamous goat comparisons, etc. She was NOT taken seriously at all. And she wasn't the performer the world came to know and love back then either.. Ray Lindsey and some others tell some great stories about those days in a recorded interview that's somewhere on youtube about how long it took her to find her footing and that her singing on that first short Mac tour was NOT good. So, without LB to polish up her songs for radio, and with her stage persona not yet solidified (the Rhiannon outfit not yet created, no top hat, etc) I would doubt that she would have set the world on fire in the way that she did. I think they'd be more successful with just LB and his contributions to the recorded music, which would get them more airplay (which was crucial back then). Stevie, in her still developing state in 1975 would not have gained them much at all.
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