C.W. McCall

William Dale Fries Jr. (November 15, 1928 – April 1, 2022) was an American advertising executive and spoken word artist who won several Clio Awards for his advertising campaigns. He is best known for his character C. W. McCall, a truck-driving country singer he originally created for a series of bread commercials; Fries later assumed the role of McCall for a series of outlaw albums and songs in the 1970s, in collaboration with co-worker (and Mannheim Steamroller founder) Chip Davis. McCall's most successful song was "Convoy", a surprise pop-crossover hit in 1975, reaching number 1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and number 2 in the British charts in March 1976. Fries was elected mayor of Ouray, Colorado, and served in that position from 1986 to 1992.

Early life

McCall was born Billie Dale Fries on November 15, 1928, in Audubon, Iowa. He later legally changed his name to William Dale Fries, Jr. His father was also called Billie and so he was the junior. One of his sons is now Bill Fries III.

His family was musical as his father performed with his two brothers in '' The Fries Brothers Band'', though his day job was as a foreman at a factory for farm equipment. His father played the violin while his mother, Margaret, played the piano and the two played ragtime together at dances. Their son first performed at the age of three in a local talent contest, singing " Coming ' Round the Mountain" while his mother played the piano. He studied music at school, playing the clarinet and the music of John Philip Sousa and became the drum major for the school's marching band. As a child, he enjoyed listening to country music, but he was even more interested in art, having started copying the cartoon characters of Walt Disney as a child. He went to the Fine Arts School at the University of Iowa where he majored in commercial art and also performed in the university's symphony orchestra. But he had to leave the university after one year as he could not afford to compete with the many demobbed soldiers who were going through college on the GI Bill of Rights. He then returned to Audubon to work as a signwriter.

In 1950, he got a job as a commercial artist with KMTV in Omaha, Nebraska. He worked for them for ten years, doing graphic work, lettering and set design. He also supported the local ballet and opera societies, doing work which won an award from the Omaha Artists and Art Directors Club. This attracted the attention of Bozell & Jacobs which was a local advertising agency and they gave him a job as an art director, doubling his salary.

He married Rena Bonnema on February 15, 1952; the two remained married for 70 years until his death. At the time of his death he had three children, four grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. His hobbies included model railroading and working on his old military jeep.

Advertising

In 1973, while working for Bozell & Jacobs, Fries created a television advertising campaign for Old Home Bread. The bread was trucked across the Midwest from the Metz Baking Company's plant in Sioux City, Iowa. As the big semi-trailer trucks carrying the Old Home Bread logo were a familiar sight on the highway, this suggested a trucking theme. The advertisements featured deliveries of the bread to the Old Home café, whose name expanded to become the "Old Home Filler-Up an' Keep on a-Truckin' Café". Its waitress was named Mavis after a real waitress at the White Spot café in Audubon where Fries grew up. Her role was to flirt with the truck driver who was named C. W. McCall. The name McCall was inspired by ''McCall's'' magazine, which Fries had on his desk at the time. A James Garner movie, ''Cash McCall'', was also an influence. To complete the name, Fries added initials, shown embroidered on the trucker's shirt, and chose "C. W." for country and western.

Singing

The commercial won a Clio Award and its success led to other trucking songs such as "Wolf Creek Pass" and "Black Bear Road". Fries wrote the lyrics and sang while Chip Davis, who wrote jingles at Bozell & Jacobs, wrote the music. Classically-trained Davis went on to create Mannheim Steamroller and win Country Music Writer of the Year in 1976, despite not liking the genre.

McCall is best known for the 1976 No. 1 hit song, "Convoy" which was inspired by his own experience of driving in a growing group of vehicles out of Denver. Its theme of using CB radio