“Mary Ann” is a bluegrass song written by Lonnie Treat and Johnny Stills, first recorded by Stills in the early 1970s. By one account the song’s title figure was named for Mary Ann Garrison, who ran the fan club of bluegrass bandleader Jimmy Martin.
It was Martin who made the song widely known. He recorded “Mary Ann” with his Sunny Mountain Boys and released it in the mid-1970s; the song’s bright melody and devoted, lovestruck lyric suited his confident, hard-driving style.
“Mary Ann” settled into the bluegrass repertoire as a cheerful, singable favorite, and it remains a popular jam-session and stage number, closely identified with the “King of Bluegrass” who made it a hit.