"Convoy" Country Artist C.W. McCall Passes Away At Age Of 93

C.W. McCall (the pseudonym of William Dale Fries), born in Audubon, Iowa, passed away at the age of 93 after battling cancer. He was best known as performer who wrote truck-themed outlaw country songs in the 70's and early 80's. 

McCall is remembered probably best for the 1975 #1 hit song "Convoy", which came at the peak of the citizens band radio fad in the United States. 

The name, or “handle,” of the song’s central character is Rubber Duck, and he chats with another driver, Pig Pen, hauling a load of foul-smelling hogs, which becomes a running joke throughout the song. They join up with a driver in a “cab-over Pete with a reefer on” — a refrigerated Peterbilt truck with the cab above the engine — headed east out of Shaky Town, or Los Angeles, and “Mercy sakes alive, looks like we got us a convoy.”

“I’m about to put the hammer down,” Rubber Duck says, meaning he’s going to drive as fast as he can, while keeping an eye out for “smokies,” or highway patrol officers in flat-brimmed hats like the ones worn by Smokey Bear. As more trucks follow along, McCall chants, “We gonna roll this truckin’ convoy ’cross the USA.”

“It was timely,” Mr. Fries told the Associated Press in 1990. “Back in 1975-76, that craze was sweeping the country. The jargon was colorful, and the American public liked that, too. It was laced with humor, but it had a rebellious feeling about it and people responded to it.”

Far from a one-hit wonder, McCall continued to chart with songs such as "Wolf Creek Pass", which hit #40 on the U.S. pop top 40 in 1975, and 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 environmentally-oriented "There Won't Be No Country Music (There Won't Be No Rock 'n' Roll)". A dozen McCall songs hit Billboard's country singles chart, including the sentimental "Roses For Mama" (1977).

In 1978, the movie Convoy was released, based on the C.W. McCall song and starring Kris Kristofferson.

In addition to the "original six" McCall albums released between 1975 and 1979, two rare singles exist. "Kidnap America" was a politically/socially-conscious track, while "Pine Tar Wars" referred to an event that actually happened in a New York Yankees-Kansas City Royals baseball game in 1983.

In 1982, McCall was elected mayor of the town of Ouray, Colorado, ultimately serving three terms.

In 1990, American Gramaphone Records issued a CD containing a number of old McCall tracks re-recorded for the digital CD age, plus a new song, "Comin' Back For More", which was inspired by Alferd Packer, an alleged cannibal from the 19th century.

In 2014, Rolling Stone ranked "Convoy" No. 98 on their list of 100 Greatest Country Songs.