"Tecumseh Valley", which had appeared on the singer's debut album, was re-recorded for Our Mother the Mountain as a result of Van Zandt's dissatisfaction with the garish production employed on For the Sake of the Song.

Van Zandt was carrying only his guitar and a backpack stuffed with records and, as a means of thanking Ely, gave him a brand-new copy of Our Mother the Mountain.

In the book To Live's To Fly: The Ballad of the Late, Great Townes Van Zandt, John Kruth describes the title track as "otherworldly.

“Tecumseh Valley” is a heartbreaking reminiscence of a miner’s daughter in Depression-era Oklahoma who earns low wages at a bar and, after the death of her father, is forced into prostitution and an early demise.

“Our Mother the Mountain” is a dark ballad of a sinister and spooky Lorelei, a siren, accompanied by the forlorn flute of Jules Jacob.

"[2] The artwork for Our Mother the Mountain was designed by Milton Glaser and the album cover features an arresting shot of Van Zandt taken by Allen Vogel.

Dick Curless first recorded "Be Here to Love Me" on his 1965 LP Tombstone Every Mile and the song appears on the 2006 album Dust to Shake by Corazon.

"Tecumseh Valley" has been recorded by Bobby Bare, Nancy Griffith, Matthew Cook and Van Zandt disciple Steve Earle.