Claude King

Claude King built a career as both a singer/songwriter and screen actor, though lasting recognition rests chiefly on the single “Wolverton Mountain,” whose lyrics portray Clifton Clowers as “mighty handy with a gun and a knife” and describe how he sequesters his daughter inside their mountain home to discourage suitors.

An exclusive spotlight on that record, however, leaves out the larger arc of his work; sharing origins with Johnny Horton, King placed another twenty-seven singles on the charts after the breakthrough.

A native of Shreveport, Louisiana, he showed early athletic talent and took up guitar at age twelve.

College attendance came on a baseball scholarship; afterward he worked as a construction engineer while singing in local clubs and on regional television and radio during the late 1940s and early 1950s.

He formed an early connection with Tillman Franks, who later managed Horton and held a prominent post at the Louisiana Hayride on Shreveport’s KWKH.

King’s first single appeared on President in 1947.

He followed it with the comic honky-tonk track “51 Beers” for Gotham in 1949, then cut four sides for Specialty in 1952; although Franks secured occasional Hayride slots, national attention remained out of reach.

Columbia signed him in 1961, and the debut release “Big River, Big Man” climbed to the country top ten while registering a modest pop entry.

Its successor, “The Comancheros,” also reached the country top ten.

Around the same period King and Merle Kilgore co-wrote “Wolverton Mountain,” a piece that fused fairy-tale atmosphere with Horton’s narrative manner and overlaid lush Nashville-sound backing vocals to emphasize its theme of youthful desire.

The song remained at number one on the country chart for nine weeks and peaked at number six on the pop chart.

Further hits followed with the top-ten “The Burning of Atlanta” and the number-eleven “I’ve Got the World by the Tail,” turning King and his band the Nashville Knights into frequent headliners.

Successes continued through 1964 with releases such as “Hey Lucille!,” “Sam Hill,” and “Building a Bridge,” yet chart action grew infrequent during the later 1960s.

King exited Columbia in 1971 and moved to independent labels, where commercial results were minimal.

His final chart single, “Cotton Dan,” barely registered in 1977.

He also appeared in the feature films Swamp Girl and Year of the Wahoo, and took part in the 1982 television miniseries The Blue and the Gray.