Track Listing

1. Convoy
2. Silverton
3. Four Wheel Drive
4. Wolf Creek Pass
5. Classified
6. There Won't Be No Country Music (There Won't Be No Rock 'N' Roll)
7. Old Home Filler-Up an' Keep on A-Truckin' Cafe
8. Crispy Critters
9. 'round the World With the Rubber Duck
10. Black Bear Road
11. Roses for Mama
12. Aurora Borealis

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14828 in Music
• Released on: 1993-09-21
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
The linkage between consumerism and popular music finds a strange analogue in William Fries, a.k.a. C.W. McCall. Trained in graphic design and advertising, Fries invented his trucker persona while working on a bakery ad campaign and helped drive the trucker craze of the '70s with a slew of novelty tunes, few of which have aged very well. McCall described his delivery as a "walkin', talkin' singin' style," though emphasis always falls on his deadpan spoken wit. McCall never took himself seriously, and tunes like "Crispy Critters" and "'Round the World with the Rubber Duck" will inspire a laugh at just how weird the '70s could be. --Roy Kasten

Customer Reviews

C.W. McCall [Bill Fries] started as pitchman
Before there ever was "Convoy," there was the "Old Home Filler Up and Keep on Truck'n Cafe," featuring the original C.W.McCall, an actor on several TV commercials for Metz Baking Company, the Iowa based maker of Old Home Bread. Bill Fries, who was to later "become" C.W. McCall, worked as an advertising agency executive and did C.W.'s voice-over on the commercials. I met the original actors who played C.W and the "truck stop waitress Mavis" in the early 70's at a mall appearance in South Dakota.

Here are some of the words in one of those commercials:

(C.W. is driving an Old Home bread truck)

Down I-29 we was cuttin' the fog/ Just me and old Sloan, old was my dog/ We had ten on the floor with a stereo, lay'n a strip/ Well I spied a sign that said "Eat Gas Now"/ So I decided to whip in and get some chow/ At the Old Home Filler Up and Keep on truck'n Cafe

Part of another ...

Well I went inside, she said what'll it be?/ I said "a cup of your best and a number three"/ And I came back with a quart of hot 'C' and a bone for Sloan ...

In another ad:

Well, I popped the clutch, gave tranny a spin/ Took the BeeBee town ramp and slid on in/ To the Old Home Filler up and Keep on Truck'n Cafe/

C.W. started a "thing" going with Mavis when he asked her one night to go to a movie with him. The response:

Well now that sounds like a whole lotta fun/ But we's gonna have to wait until the dishes was done/ And was it all right with me if she brought along her mother as a chaperone. I said, Why not ...

It winds up that "The four of us went to see a picture show ... took 'em to a drive-in theater over by Pisga to see "True Grit./ Saw the late late show, Old Sloan hit the sack/ And along about two o'clock I hauled 'em all back/ To the Old Home Filler Up and Keep on Truck'n Cafe

When Bill Fries became C.W. McCall and recorded "Old Home Filler Up and Keep On Truck'n Cafe", his singing career was launched.

Then "Convoy" sent him into orbit.

More than just "Convoy"
This guy could narrate anything and I'd buy it. Basically, I'm an office-bound New Yorker, and this CD takes me to places I'm not likely to see. I listened to it five times in a row when I received the package. Story songs, serious songs, funny songs, you name it. This would be fantastic to listen to on your next road trip. Life is short; enjoy some Americana while you can. 10-4, see you on the flip flop good buddy.

one of the best forgotten gems of the 70s
Contrary to a previous reviewer, CW McCall isn't Chip Davis... technically it's Chip Davis' music and the words and voice of William Fries, who has used the name CW McCall for other projects that used his voice...

However, that point is moot, when you slap the disc in and have a wave of memories overtake you like it did me (My dad wore out his "Black Bear Road" 8 track and mourned its loss ever since- till I bought two copies of this disc... one for him and one for me.. ).

Well, all I can really say is that they don't make em like this anymore.