C.W. McCall

Description

C.W. McCall is the pseudonym of William Dale Fries, Jr. (born November 15, 1928 in Audubon, Iowa, USA).<p>In 1973, while working as creative director for an Omaha, Nebraska advertising firm, Bozell &amp; Jacobs, Fries created a television campaign for the Metz Baking Company. The Clio Award-winning ads [1974] featured a truck driver named C.W. McCall, who was played by Dallas actor, Jim Finlayson. The commercial's success led to songs such as "Old Home Filler-Up an' Keep on a-Truckin' Café", "Wolf Creek Pass", and "Black Bear Road". Fries sang and wrote the lyrics, and Chip Davis, later of Mannheim Steamroller, wrote the music.<p>McCall is best known for the 1976 #1 hit song "Convoy", which came at the peak of the CB fad in the United States. Far from a one-hit wonder, McCall first charged the song "Wolf Creek Pass", which hit #40 on the U.S. pop top 40 in 1975. At least two other songs hit Billboard's pop Hot 100, including "Old Home Filler-Up an' Keep on a-Truckin' Cafe", as well as the...