“Convoy” (Written by Bill Fries and Chip Davis) CW Mccall

The Story Behind The Song: “Convoy” (written by Bill Fries and Chip Davis) C. W. McCall (#1 country, #1 pop, 1975) Recently I mentioned this song “Convoy” in my earlier backstory regarding Waylon Jennings’ 1977 smash “Luckenbach, Texas (Back To The Basics Of Love),” explaining that six weeks at #1 had been the highest tally achieved by a country song during the decade of the 1970s, and that only three records had accomplished this. In addition to “Luckenbach, Texas,” the others were Freddie Hart’s “My Hang Up Is You” in 1972 and the song I’m writing about today: C. W. McCall’s “Convoy.” Bill Fries of Audobon, Iowa was working as a $40,000-a-year advertising executive for Bozell & Jacobs in Omaha, Nebraska when he first developed the characters of C. W. McCall and the truck-stop waitress, Mavis. Their commercials for Old Home Bread won a “Clio” award (given for advertising), and the song “Old Home Filler-Up An’ Keep On-A-Truckin’ Café” rose to #19 on the Billboard country charts in 1974. Fries continued working for Bozell & Jacobs, but he also pursued his secondary musical career, reaching #12 with “Wolf Creek Pass” and #13 with “Classified,” all released under his “C. W. McCall” moniker. In June of 1975, he was listening to his CB radio when he got the idea for “Convoy,” taking advantage of a growing fad. Nine months later, some 3.5 million CB operators were transmitting signals across the U. S., and some of them no doubt picked up on the trend after hearing McCall’s hit. The record’s success was phenomenal. “Convoy” debuted on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles chart on November 29, 1975, soared to #1 in its fourth week on December 20th and remained at the top for six full weeks. At the same time, the record was climbing the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart. It reached the summit there on January 10, 1976, becoming the seventh and last single to top both the country and pop charts during the 1970s (the others to do this were Charlie Rich’s “The Most Beautiful Girl” in 1973, Billy Swan’s “I Can Help” in 1974, Freddy Fender’s “Before The Next Teardrop Falls” in 1975 and two by John Denver: “Thank God I’m A Country Boy” and “I’m Sorry,” also in ’75). “Convoy” ultimately sold more than seven million copies and Billboard named it the number one country single of the year for 1976. Two years later, the song provided the basis for the movie “Convoy,” starring Kris Kristofferson and Ali McGraw. C. W. McCall’s release of “Convoy” wasn’t quite the last of his big records. He turned up at #2 with one final hit in 1977: another recitation called “Roses For Mama.” After his music career ended, McCall was elected mayor of Olathe, Colorado. His collaborator in the writing of almost all of his chart entries was Chip Davis, who also organized the sessions and recruited the musicians which produced these hits. If the name Chip Davis sounds familiar, it’s because of a New Age act he established and developed a few years after his association with C. W. McCall. This act has proved highly successful, especially around Christmastime. It’s known as “Mannheim Steamroller,” and amazingly, many of the musicians that make up this highly unorthodox group also performed on the McCall sessions back in the ‘70s. – JH 76 .

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