Times Record News, Wichita Falls, Texas, Lana Sweeten-Shults column

July 14--She's older -- and has more insurance -- but better yet, Donnalou Stevens also has more YouTube views than most, thanks to her viral YouTube hit, "Older Ladies."

The video for the quirky, lovable song, which has become an anthem for older women, has wracked up millions of views since it was posted in early June. It also has been featured by Anderson Cooper, on "Fox 411 Country Round-Up," in The Huffington Post and on more than 100 blogs and Web pages.

"It's nearly at 5 million (on YouTube)," said Stevens, 55, from the San Francisco Bay Area, where the Wichita Falls High School graduate settled after earning her theater degree from Midwestern State University. Her sisters Rita, Deb and Lisa, and her mom, Alice, still live in Wichita Falls, while another sister, Cathy, moved to California and brother Joe is in California and Texas.

<p>With its star dressed in a red frilly dress and doling out "The Sound of Music"-worthy yodeling (to men in lederhosen, no less), "Older Ladies" charms, Texas-style, with lyrics that go: "I got cellulite and aching feet/ And my thighs kind of jiggle when I giggle or wiggle/ And if that's the reason that you don't love me, then maybe that's not love/ My tummy ain't tucked or liposucked/ It's a little poochie but it's still hoochie-coochie/ And if that's the reason that you don't love me, then maybe that's not love."

Stevens, or just Donna Stevens as Wichitans will know her, got the idea for the song after talking to one of her friends.

"My best friend asked her husband if he would like it if her body looked like it did 10 years before, and he foolishly answered 'Yes.'

"And so that's what sparked the origin of the song."

She wrote it while riding a shuttle bus in Dallas. " ... I got the driver to give me a piece of paper and a pen, and I was going, 'Ha-ha-ha!' -- I always laugh when I write."

She tested the finished song on a group of 50-year-old-men who were on the shuttle with her. They loved it.

But the real test came when she was hanging out at a weekend party with some musician friends.

"One of my friends, her boyfriend filmed it and put it on Facebook and it got 30,000 hits in a week. That's what gave me the confidence to take a huge leap and spend half the money I had making the video."

She called another friend, Christine McHugh, who had directed Stevens' one-woman show years ago and was now in film school. McHugh happened to need a final class project. "Older Ladies" was a no-brainer.

"We had a shoestring budget, but we had so much fun. We shot it in three days."

The song features her band Birdz of Play behind the scenes, while friends and friends of friends joined her in the video.

Despite her musical success, the Austin-born Stevens (her military family settled in Wichita Falls when she was 3 years old) never did set out to become a singer.

She wanted to be an actor, a profession she shares with her brother, Joe. He is perhaps best known for facing off with Jeff Bridges' Rooster Cogburn character in the opening courtroom scene of the Coen Brothers' "True Grit." He also has appeared in "Dancer, Texas, Pop. 81," "What's Eating Gilbert Grape," John Lee Hancock's "The Alamo," "Lone Star," "Varsity Blues," "Selena" and in several "Walker, TexasRanger" episodes.

Stevens' first role was in the first grade. She played a nun who was a principal at Our Lady Queen of Peace Elementary School.

After finishing her theater degree at MSU, she went on to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and settled in California.

"I did the whole L.A. actor thing. I mainly did stage work. I toured with a live theater piece I co-wrote called 'The Cow Patties,' so mainly live shows."

Then she turned to singing. Stevens said people have told her that her songs get stuck in their heads, so she has dedicated herself to art and music that make people laugh and feel better about themselves.

"I was scared of singing in the beginning. But if it was funny, I could sing it."

Her next step is to get the band together for a touring how.

"We're thinking of doing only uplifting songs," she said.

Stevens just wrapped up a Kickstarter campaign to film another video that's "337 percent funded," she said, so will use the funds to make even more videos.

"The next one is 'Older Men," she said with a laugh. "It's going to be even funnier."

And it will probably have the same decidedly country/Texas feel of "Older Ladies."

"You can take the girl out of Texas, but you can't take Texas out of the girl," she said.

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