CW McCall

CW McCall (born November 15, 1928 in Audubon , Iowa ; actually William Dale Fries, Jr. ) is an American country singer . He is best known for his 1975 number one hit Convoy , which was the basis for the 1978 film Convoy .

Life

As a child, Fries showed musical talent, but was more interested in drawing. He studied art and music at the University of Iowa . After graduation, he worked as an illustrator for a television station in Omaha , Nebraska . In the early 1960s, he moved to the Omaha-based advertising agency Bozell & Jacobs. There he created a television advertising campaign in 1973 as creative director for the baked goods manufacturer Metz Baking Company from Sioux City . The commercials centered on a fictional Old Home Bread Company truck driver named CW McCall, his dog Sloan, and the trucker restaurant he frequented, The Old Home Café . Fries created the character based on his own youth in Iowa. The commercials became so successful that the daily Des Moines Register listed their broadcast times on television, and in 1974 they received the Clio Award for Best Cinema or TV Campaign. The song Old Home Filler-Up an 'Keep on a-Truckin' Café (text and vocals by Fries as CW McCall, music by Chip Davis , later with the Mannheim Steamroller group ), used in one of the commercials , reached number 54 on the Billboard Hot 100 . In 1974 CW McCall released their first album, Wolf Creek Pass , with additional songs, and made it to number 4 on the country charts. The theme song Wolf Creek Pass reached number 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1975. The next album, Black Bear Road from 1975, made it to number 1 on the country charts.

Convoy from 1975, a single from this album, is McCall's best-known song. Released at the height of the CB radio wave in the US, the track, which tells of a truck driver revolt, reached number 1 on both the country charts and the Billboard Hot 100 (January 10, 1976). 1978 based on this song film came Convoy of Sam Peckinpah with Kris Kristofferson , Ali MacGraw , Burt Young and Ernest Borgnine out. McCall wrote a new version of his hit for the film.

McCall released four other albums; the music was mostly written by Davis, later others too. With the album Wilderness he turned to environmental issues. He no longer achieved notable successes in the pop charts; the single Roses For Mama from the album of the same name from 1977 reached number 2 on the country charts. After that Fries / McCall retired from the music scene for a few years. He moved to the small town of Ouray , Colorado , where he was elected mayor for three terms from 1986 to 1992.

In 1990 the CD The Real McCall appeared with digital re-recordings of old McCall songs and a new song. In 2003 he took part in the album American Spirit by the Mannheim Steamroller group, which includes new recordings from Convoy and Wolf Creek Pass . Fries now lives in Ouray, Colorado with his wife, Rena Jay.

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	UK	US	Country
1975	Wolf Creek Pass	-	-	-	US143 (9 weeks) US	Country4 (23 weeks) Country
	Black Bear Road	-	-	-	US12 gold (19 weeks)US	Country1 (28 weeks) Country
1976	Wilderness	-	-	-	US143 (4 weeks) US	Country9 (12 weeks) Country
1977	Rubber duck	-	-	-	-	Country29 (8 weeks) Country
1978	Roses for Mama	-	-	-	-	Country22 (13 weeks) Country
2003	American spirit	-	-	-	US78 (8 weeks) US	-	with Mannheim Steamroller

More albums

• 1979: CW McCall and Co.
• 1979: San Juan Odyssey (with London Symphony Orchestra )
• 1990: The Real McCall: An American Storyteller

Compilations

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	UK	US	Country
1978	CW McCall's Greatest Hits	-	-	-	-	Country45 (4 weeks) Country

More compilations

• 1989: Four Wheel Cowboy
• 1991: The Legendary CW McCall
• 1997: The Best of CW McCall

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	UK	US	Country
1974	Old Home Filler-Up at 'Keep On-a-Truckin' Cafe Wolf Creek Pass	-	-	-	US54 (7 weeks) US	Country19 (11 weeks) Country
1975	Wolf Creek Pass Wolf Creek Pass	-	-	-	US40 (11 weeks) US	Country12 (16 weeks) Country
	Classified Wolf Creek Pass	-	-	-	-	Country13 (12 weeks) Country
	Black Bear Road Black Bear Road	-	-	-	-	Country24 (11 weeks) Country	B-side of Four Wheel Drive
	Convoy Black Bear Road	DE43 (5 weeks) DE	AT19 (4 weeks) AT	UK2 silver (10 weeks)UK	US1 gold (16 weeks)US	Country1 (15 weeks) Country	Chart entry in AT only in December 1978
1976	There Won't Be No Country Music (There Won't Be No Rock 'n' Roll)	-	-	-	US73 (4 weeks) US	Country19 (10 weeks) Country
	Crispy Critters Wilderness	-	-	-	-	Country32 (9 weeks) Country	B-side of Jackson Hole
	Four Wheel Cowboy Wilderness	-	-	-	-	Country88 (4 weeks) Country
1977	'Round the World with the Rubber Duck Rubber Duck	-	-	-	-	Country40 (8 weeks) Country
	Audubon Rubber Duck	-	-	-	-	Country56 (7 weeks) Country
	Roses for Mama Roses for Mama	-	-	-	-	Country2 (16 weeks) Country
1979	Outlaws and Lone Star Beer C. W. McCall & Co.	-	-	-	-	Country81 (4 weeks) Country

More singles

• 1975: Four Wheel Drive
• 1976: Jackson Hole
• 1977: Old Glory
• 1978: Outlaws and Lone Star Beer
• 1980: Kidnap America
• 1985: Pine Tar Wars

swell

1. ^ Clio Awards website, Archives department
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Chart sources: Singles UK US
3. ↑ ^{a b} The Billboard album by Joel Whitburn , 6th Edition, Record Research 2006, ISBN 0-89820-166-7 .
4. ↑ ^{a b c} gold / platinum databases: UK US

Web links

• CW McCall at Allmusic (English)
• CW McCall at Discogs (English)
• CW McCall: An American Legend
• McCall's biography at billboard.com ( September 29, 2007 memento in the Internet Archive )