What We Got Here

The Legend

Works

The Motion Picture CONVOY

The Legend-News

Old Home Cafe

Crispy Critters

Emporium

Museum

Library

Convoys

Detours

About This Site

• 1876
  • August 1: Colorado becomes the 38th state of the U.S.A.
• 1888
  • Ouray Opera House opens.
• 1928
  • November 15: William Fries, Jr. born in Audubon, Audubon County, Iowa.
• 1949?
  • Louis F. "Chip" Davis, Jr. is born.
• ?
  • Bill Fries marries Rena Jayne (the R.J. of "Black Bear Road").
• 1972
  • Bill Fries creates a series of television advertisements for Old Home Bread. The commercials feature a trucker, C.W. McCall, a driver for Old Home. His girlfriend, Mavis, works at the Old Home Filler-Up And Keep-On-A-Truckin' Cafe. Chip Davis writes the music.
• 1974
  • August 3: "Old Home Filler-Up An' Keep On A-Truckin' Cafe" peaks at number 54 on the Billboard pop singles chart.
  • December 6: "Convoy" enters the U.S. music charts.
• 1976
  • January 10 [or maybe the 9th, the 11th, or the 12th]: "Convoy" reaches number 1 on both the Billboard pop singles and country singles charts.
  • June: C.W. presents President Gerald Ford and Betty "First Mama" Ford with CB radios.
  • July: C.W. McCall is inducted into the Walkway of Stars at the Country Music Hall of Fame.
  • 3rd St. R&D Production Services provides sound services for the C.W. McCall tour.
  • Richard Melville "Moby" Hall buys his first record.

    The first record I ever bought was a 7-inch of (the truck-driving novelty song) 'Convoy' by C.W. McCall," he said. "I listened to it 40 times in a row, picking up the needle, putting it back over and over."

    from The Seattle Times, Thursday, 13 November 1997.

  • "C.W. McCall's San Juan Odyssey" opens. It's a slide show about the mountain ranges in southwest Colorado, narrated by Bill Fries.
  • December 27:
  People Magazine declares C.W McCall to be one of the "25 Most Intriguing People of 1976".
• 1977
  • January 1: The Federal Communications Commission adds channels 24 through 40 to the 27 MHz Citizens Band.
• 1978
  • C.W. McCall retires from his singing career.
• 1979
  • Mannheim Steamroller releases its first Christmas album.
• 1981?
  • Bill & R.J. move to Ouray, Colorado.
• 1986?
  • Bill is elected mayor of Ouray.
• 1989
  • Chip calls Bill with an idea: new recordings of old C.W. McCall favorites, on CD. The result: The Real McCall: An American Storyteller
• 1995
  • September: Merry Lee Kuboske [related to "…a fella by the name a' Kuboske…"?], the owner of the Ouray Opera House, sells it to Larry and Alice Leeper.
• 1996
  • "C.W. McCall's San Juan Odyssey" closes. [And I never got to see it. :( -- Ed.]
• 1997
  • October: Ed Floden surfs the World Wide Web, looking for sites concerning C.W. McCall. He doesn't find any.
• 1998
  • March 15: Ed Floden opens the World's First C.W. McCall web site, C.W. McCall: An American Legend.
• 1999
  • March: American Gramaphone reissues the 1990 album, The Real McCall: An American Storyteller. The world rejoices.
  • October: American Gramaphone informs us that the 1990 album, The Real McCall: An American Storyteller, will not be reordered when the current stock is depleted. The world mourns. (They have since reprinted the CD several times. Someone keeps buying them!)
  • November 28: The World's Second C.W. McCall Web Site, Tales of the Four Wheel Cowboy opens for business at the Narrow Gauge Circle.
  • 24 December: The Star asks "Whatever Happened to C.W. McCall?".
• 2003
  • March 20: Ed. attends a recording session for the upcoming Mannheim Steamroller / C.W. McCall collaboration, American Spirit.
  • May: American Spirit is released.