Claude King
Singer/songwriter and actor Claude King is best remembered for his one big hit, "Wolverton Mountain," the tale of one Clifton Clowers who is "mighty handy with a gun and a knife" and keeps his daughter sequestered in their mountain home away from potential suitors. Focusing exclusively on that song results in an incomplete picture of King's career, however; he emerged from the milieu that also produced Johnny Horton, and after "Wolverton Mountain" he scored another 27 chart singles. The Shreveport, LA, native was a natural athlete as a child. When he was 12, he learned how to play guitar. After attending college on a baseball scholarship, he spent the late '40s and early '50s working as a construction engineer and performing music in local clubs and on TV and radio. Early on, he met up with Tillman Franks, who became Horton's manager and also a top talent official with the Louisiana Hayride program on Shreveport radio station KWKH. King recorded his first single for the President label in 1947. He followed up with the hilarious honky tonker "51 Beers" (Gotham, 1949) and with other singles, including four recorded for Specialty in 1952, but despite some Hayride appearances lined up by Franks, he remained just under the national radar.
In 1961, King signed to Columbia and released his first single, "Big River, Big Man." The song became a Top Ten country hit as well as a minor pop hit. The follow-up, "The Comancheros," also made it to the Top Ten. Around this time King teamed up with Merle Kilgore to write "Wolverton Mountain," a song that neatly blended a classic fairy-tale quality with Horton's storytelling style -- and capped off the whole with lush Nashville sound background vocals that accented the song's theme of youthful ardor. "Wolverton Mountain" spent nine weeks at the top of the country charts and peaked at number six on the pop charts. Two more hits -- the Top Ten "The Burning of Atlanta" and the number 11 "I've Got the World by the Tail" -- followed, and King and his band, the Nashville Knights, became hot tickets. Through 1964, he continued his string of successes with singles like "Hey Lucille!," "Sam Hill," and "Building a Bridge," but his hits became more sporadic in the latter half of the '60s. King left Columbia in 1971 and began recording with little success on independent labels. "Cotton Dan," which barely nicked the bottom of the charts, became his last hit in 1977. During his career, King also appeared in two feature films, Swamp Girl and Year of the Wahoo. He also appeared in the 1982 television miniseries The Blue and the Gray.
© Sandra Brennan & James Manheim /TiVo
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The Comancheros
Jazz - Editado por Black Sheep Music el 15 may. 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Nightingale
Country - Editado por oldies and hits for future el 20 may. 2019
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Sound and Vision
Country - Editado por the sound girly el 12 dic. 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Comancheros
Jazz - Editado por Stars and Stripes el 15 may. 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Big River, Big Man (Billboard Hot 100 - No 82)
Country - Editado por Music Manager el 23 oct. 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Love Caught
Country - Editado por classics & more el 20 jul. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Talkative Friend
Country - Editado por classics & more el 9 may. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Express Yourself
Country - Editado por sinderella el 7 dic. 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Big River, Big Man
Jazz - Editado por Black Sheep Music el 22 oct. 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Wolverton Mountain
Folk - Editado por Blue Pie Records USA el 1 ene. 1962
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St. Nicholas - For Young Folks
Country - Editado por St. Nicholas Day el 5 dic. 2021
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Wolverton Mountain (Billboard Hot 100 - No. 06)
Música vocal (profana y sacra) - Editado por Music Manager el 19 dic. 2018
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Big River, Big Man
Jazz - Editado por Stars and Stripes el 22 oct. 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Just at the Turn of the Tide
Country - Editado por turn of the tide el 28 abr. 2023
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OnlyMilesAway
Jazz - Editado por claude king cuts el 12 dic. 2019
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Flapping Wings
Country - Editado por Wings in Hell el 1 ene. 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pistol Packin' Papa
Country - Editado por CTS Digital el 7 jul. 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo