C.W. McCall Ghost Town

[syndahra]

Watching this and listening to one of  my favorite songs ever has made a Colorado girl living in Tennessee very happy. Thank you!

[n2b8er]

I just love this song. The video really sets it off. Good job.

[msgoodlistener]

Great work on this video! Love the song and CW.

[girltograndma]

Excellent! Thanks for your sharing! I left Colorado as a young girl, but love it still!

[Mr4TeaParty]

Beautiful scenes with the music. Very well done.

[devilfan1965]

what year was this song? i love it!

[desertrat022760]

@devilfan1965

It came out on his album Black Bear Road in 1975

[hueyconstruct]

Been here.......Use to Live in Salida :-)

Beautiful

[dbrab1]

great video and song. Did the pictures come from Creede colorado? My brother used to live there. HE passed away seven years ago,Reminds me of the good times we spent together there. Thanks for posting.

[desertrat022760]

@dbrab1

All the pictures are from the Ouray / Silverton area. Thank you for your comment.

[RickBeall]

Awesome video!  It really interpreted the song well.

[desertrat022760]

@RickBeall Thanks. Took all the pictures myself along with my wife. All in the San Juans of Colorado

[mongo731]

Man what a great video! Thank you for the work!

[catsmithyu]

0:13 What an odd place to build a building.

[SM4WII]

Really nice photos!

[rothdylan24]

The one looks like by the alpine tunnel

[Lloydhl]

Your photography of the Ghost Town is awesome, great job, love to find something like that around here!

[desertrat022760]

@Lloydhl Thank you. Where are you from?

[Lloydhl]

@desertrat022760

Hi back, just Lloyd is fine, I'm in S.E. Wisconsin, Kenosha!

[jonymopar]

I live in the northeast, are any radio stations still playing his music out west.

he is a true american, his music has be underapprecieated.

[sekmand]

I wish I could find one for a song CW McCall did called Oregon Trail...it was also on the Black Bear Road album...

[desertrat022760]

@sekmand

I agree. It's a great song. But I don't have any pictures of the Oregon Trail.

[usm7j]

@desertrat022760 I lived in western Wyoming when CW McCall was popular. Was lucky enough to stand in the wagon ruts on the Oregon Trail. very awe inspiring feeling.

[StompingSpuds]

search "CW McCall Oregon Trail on Youtube there are a couple good uploads.

[clagwell]

Great Vid.

[BolivarBuddy]

Great video! I love it!

[beenthrdidtht]

I went to place that looked like that up a trail in silverton colorado

[sekmand]

I wish someone would do one to Oregon Trail...I really miss that song.

[hurryrun3]

still a great song!

[microbusss]

real cool man Have quite a few of his music on records 8-tracks & CDs

[nascar11000]

this is a beautiful vidieo, i know the area very well

[sailing8002]

Agree, great video and great music. As a kid we had Wolf Creek Pass and Black Bear Road and I listened to those albums so much. I just bought them both on ebay last week.

[mycatwilatackyou]

what a great video

[dozeydollar]

sorry where are the images from? You probably said already but they;re really great

[desertrat022760]

They were taken in southwestern CO

[nascargas]

@dozeydollar Bill Fries (CW) was from Colorado...

[abelonline]

they look ;like they are from the Animas Forks/howardsville area outside of Silverton...gorgeous area and CW is a mandatory listen...

[Megesse]

to Twój głos :) Kochanie.

[Winonasalibi]

SO underated..... I always tell people how much this guy influence me....

with the help of his cowriter/arranger Chip Davis who went on to form Mannheim Steamroller, the guy did the unthinkable....

He esentially melded Progressive Rock and Country music.

[user208351]

@Winonasalibi

I encourage you to drop a note to Bill and let him know that. If you send anything to have him sign remember to include return postage.

Bill Fries

P.O. Box E

Ouray, CO 81427

Bill is 82 and we won't have him to much longer. I encourage any one he touched with his music to write and say thanks.

Lawrence

[snoopindaweb]

=/////=======> - AMEN..!

[StompingSpuds]

Great Video. This song always brought ghost town visions to my imagination.  Very poignant images. Well done.

[TearDropCatcher]

Oh, I love his voice so much...

[Susurrus1964]

I was in fifth grade when I bought my first C.W. McCall album. I'd heard Convoy, of course, and that was the primary reason I bought the album. When I heard tracks like Ghost Town and Green River, I knew the best stuff wasn't what they were playing on the radio.

Very nice video. Thanks.

[19murphy9696]

I agree. I have looked and looked and cannot find "Green River" on YouTube though.

[user208351]

@19murphy9696

It is posted and I am working on a slide show for it too.

[user208351]

Most are around Ouray and on the Alpine Loop. We are losing many of these to time and in 208 we lost the Empire Chief Mill due to snow slides.

If you want to see the last true spirit of America you better take a trip soon. There are jeep rentals and guides for hire in Ouray.

If you want to feel true awe for what the settlers had to travel and endure you need to take this trip.

The town of Ouray is called the Switzerland of America.

[user208351]

@user208351 Typo it should read 2008 not 208. srry

[sexsideways]

Most Of these Pics Are From Colorado!

[bluefactoryshea]

All of these pics are from Colorado!

[sexsideways]

Damn! I thought so! i been to sum of them places! I LOVE COLORADO!!

[xlbyg07]

congrats on a great video,i dont think that you could have done a better job... seeing the over grown and neglected graves hits the bulls eye

[bluefactoryshea]

Thanks. Sort of a labor of love.

[simonellson]

Class

[shaneasmith6]

I love the atmosphere of this recording, goose bump stuff.

[toddnjane]

could author put on oregon trail???thats the best....robbie

[usm7j]

Lived in Wyoming when CW was at his zenith. Was very fortunate to experience alot of his music first hand. Ghost towns included!!!

[lifewarrior2375]

awsome what a trippy cw tune

[sepftc]

beautifull, you captured colorado at its hidden best

[WillysJeep352]

i really like the pictures

[MrAquarium]

You should do this same video to the black bear road album version of the song.

You should also do steam singing the Silverton, that would be killer to.

[MrAquarium]

The Green was on the Black Bear Road Album if i recall, my alums are stored or I'd look to be sure,

But this song is awsume, all though this version of it sucks shit..

[desertrat022760]

I wouldn't put it that way. The older version was better but I went with this version because it has the wind blowing and it adds to the feel.

[MrAquarium]

Yeah I understand what your saying, but like most songs, the first version you hear sometimes you like better then a different one, same with live music tracks, some you like better then studio and viseversa,

I prefer Metal but always liked allot McCall's stuff, this being my fav song he's done.

[eldorado62]

C.W.McCall also recorded a song (around about this time) called 'The Green'. Not sure if I got the title right, but it was on an LP of his back in, or around 1975. Can't find it on 'You Tube' though, and it's a fantastic song. I thing the LP was just called 'C.W.McCall'. I used to have this album. He also sang a song about a locomotive (track two, side one).

Does anyone have these two great songs they could download?

[jonnowds]

Yes, "Green River: is the title, and it's one side two of "Black Bear Road," his first album I think. "Ghost Town" was the last track of side one (spooky way to end a side, no?).

Is this one of the re-recorded versions from the CD compilation I read about on wiki? It's not the original LP version for sure...

[user208351]

The song was called The Silverton:

She was born one mornin on a San Juan summer

Back in eighteen and eighty and one

She was a beautiful daughter of the D and R G

And she weighed about a thousand ton

Based on the Silverton Narrow Gauge in Durango, Colorado

[toddnjane]

regards to user208351,i have all his lps,about 6 or 7 still waitin for his best one on you tube...oregon trail...post adress of contact for cw? robbie i would contact him possibly if so

[TT350500600]

We need to protect these old mines! The mine at Hughsville/Baker in the Little Belt Mountains of Montana are going to be torn down to "clean up" the site thats been dormant for almost 100 years! With them will go the best memories of my childhood. I still remember sliding down the slag pile on a rusty piece of tin like a tobagen! How we didn't get killed is a mystery to me but we loved it.

Thanks for Mr. Fries address. I need to write and thank him for the songs of my youth!

[fontheking5]

Very nice song and video .

[user208351]

I was in Ouray July 2008 and had dinner with Bill (C.W. McCall) his voice is still strong and the words are clear. These old towns and mills are fading away lost to time and weather.

We lost the Empire Chief Mill and The Torpedo Eclipse Mill due to snow slides in 2008.

Any one who is interested can write

Bill Fries; PO Box E, Ouray, CO 81427

Bill is one heck of a guy and we look forward to seeing him in July.

He just had his 80th Birth day on November 15.

[ashway1929]

A song of Americas west, the way it was.