Man behind C.W. McCall and ‘Convoy’ dies

Bill Fries – perhaps better known to most of us C.W. McCall – died on Friday. He was 93 years old

Fries was an advertising executive from Omaha who found fame as a country music singer with songs about trucks. His biggest hit was “Convoy,” which hit the top spot in both the country and pop charts in 1976.

The song starts off with some CB dialog:

Ah, breaker one-nine, this here’s the Rubber Duck
You gotta copy on me, Pig Pen, c’mon?
Ah, yeah, 10-4, Pig Pen, fer shure, fer shure
By golly, it’s clean clear to Flag Town, c’mon
Yeah, that’s a big 10-4 there, Pig Pen
Yeah, we definitely got the front door, good buddy
Mercy sakes alive, looks like we got us a convoy

He went on to record “Wolf Creek Pass,” another trucking anthem.

A movie, inspired by the song, came two years after the song hit the charts. It starred Kris Kristopherson, Ali MacGraw and Ernest Borgnine. There are some nice-looking trucks in a trailer for it.

Fries’ family said he’d been battling cancer and was in hospice care in Ouray, Colo.

Fries also won a Clio Award in 1974 for the Old Home Bread ad campaign that featured on a trucker named C.W. McCall and waitress named Mavis at the Old Home Filler-up an’ Keep on a-Truckin’ Cafe in Pisgah, Iowa.

Born in Audubon, Iowa, he moved to Omaha in the 1950s and worked behind the scenes at a TV station before moving to an ad agency in 1961, according to an Omaha World-Herald obituary.

 Fries’ love and support for trucking

Back in 2003, Land Line Now’s Mark Reddig talked with Fries, who was supportive of OOIDA’s June Safety Month. The idea was getting the support of Congress and others.

“I see Congress has got a resolution … everybody seems to be very enthusiastic about the idea,” Fries said. “And you can count me in on that, too.”

“I support wholeheartedly your effort in June Safety Month,” Fries said. “Carry on.”

Fries said his interest in truckers and their profession started during the energy crisis in the mid-1970s. Fries said he wrote the song “Convoy” about what he saw – truckers reacting to the oil shortages and the new 55 mph speed limit, both of which were making it difficult, if not impossible, for them to earn a living.

In the song, Fries, playing the leader of the convoy, used the CB handle “Rubber Duck.”

“It was sort of like writing about what was happening out there on the highways,” he said. “Ever since then, it’s been sort of an anthem, you might say, for truckers.”

Over the years, he has been in contact with many people in the trade, and to this day still describes them in fond terms.

“I think truckers are the greatest people on Earth,” Fries said. “I’ve had enough experience with them now to know that they’d just give their right arm for you.

“I’ve seen them out on the highway doing things you wouldn’t believe,” he added. “Taking care of people and helping people out. They’re just great guys – and women too.” LL