Who Is Bill Fries and How He Changed The World
Breaker, breaker one-nine! Sometimes you’re just cruising down the road and for some strange reason, you think about Bill Fries. Maybe it’s the rumble of an 18-wheeler passing by, or maybe it’s the memory of a simpler time when a CB radio was the original social media.
Known to every good buddy as C.W. McCall, the man born William Dale Fries Jr. on November 15, 1928, was an ad man who accidentally created a cultural phenomenon. In the early 70s, he came up with a TV ad campaign for Old Home Bread featuring a truck driver named C.W. McCall. The jingles and character were so popular that a full-blown country music career was born.
The impact was immediate and massive, with McCall’s talk-singing style and trucker tales like “Wolf Creek Pass” blowing up the airwaves. The real explosion came with “Convoy,” the 1975 monster hit that went to number one on both the pop and country charts and ignited the CB radio craze across America. It wasn’t just a song; it was a movement, a tribute to the freedom and outlaw spirit of the long-haul driver.
After his run of trucker songs, Fries went in a completely different direction. He retired from music and moved to Ouray, Colorado, where he became involved in environmental causes. The biggest curveball? He was elected mayor of Ouray and served three terms, from 1986 to 1992. He went from leading a fictional convoy of truckers to running an actual town!
Bill Fries passed away at his Ouray home on April 1, 2022, at the age of 93, after a battle with cancer. His legacy is more than just a novelty song. He was the voice of a generation’s rebellious spirit, a man who showed you could change lanes from ad executive to chart-topping musician to small-town mayor. Over and out, Rubber Duck. Thanks for the ride.
