[5] The song's storyline deals with the narrator's desire for Clowers' daughter and his intention to climb the titular mountain and marry her.
It opens with the recounting of a legendary warning to the listener not to "go on Wolverton Mountain," as its inhabitant Clifton Clowers, who is "handy with a gun and a knife," poses a lethal threat to anyone who tries to approach his beautiful daughter, whose "tender lips are sweeter than honey."
Country singer Dickey Lee, who was still emerging on the music scene at the time, covered the song just months after it was released.
The song was also parodied by Marty Cooper (as "El Clod") in a version called "Tijuana Border (Wolverton Mountain)".
[15] In 1985, inspired by the Dirt Band's rendition of the song, a cable television program in Summit County, Colorado featured restaurateur Jim Rianoshek portraying a character named Clifton Clowers, who promoted a fictional ski area called Wolverton Mountain, "where the snow is so deep that it is the home of periscope skiing, and the cost of a lift ticket depends on your line of credit.
"[16] Hank Williams Jr. mentioned Clifton Clowers in a track titled "If the South Woulda Won" on his album Wild Streak (1988).
Writer Merle Kilgore praised Great Plains' version, saying that it was the first time since King's original that the "magic" had been recaptured.