Mannheim Steamroller had it's origins in the creative direction of producer Chip Davis, . In his early professional life, Davis was a jingle writer. With advertising man Bill Fries, he created the fictional singing truck driver C.W. McCall for a series of Clio-award winning bread commercials. The ads proved so popular, Fries and Davis were able to parlay their McCall character into a series of hit country records, most notably the '70s C.B. radio anthem "Convoy." Davis's wildly successful collaborations with Fries provided the capital needed to create his own record label, American Gramaphone.

Initially, Davis had trouble getting exposure for his self-proclaimed audiophile label. he thought up a new idea of promotion, he began distributing free copies of his disc to audio stores for demonstration purposes. Impressed customers would buy the stereo and then ask where they could find the music, and a multi-platinum phenomenon was born.