C.W. McCall

C.W. McCall, credited with co-writing and recording the 1976 truck-driving classic “Convoy,” died on April 1, 2022. He was 93. “Convoy” arrived at the height of a CB radio craze, spending six weeks atop the Country radio chart and even topping the pop parade. C.W. McCall was actually the alter ego of advertising executive William Fries, who created the trucker character of C.W. McCall for a campaign for Old Home Bread. Fries co-wrote “Convoy” with Chip Davis, who later founded the group Mannheim Steamroller. McCall’s corresponding album on MGM Records, Black Bear Road, reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart. He showed his sentimental side with the melodramatic 1977 ballad, “Roses for Mama,” then stepped away from the music business the following year.