Marvin ‘Popcorn’ Sutton (1948-2009) RIP
One of the unhelpful puritanical laws we have in this great country prohibits distilling your own liquor. A shame, this, because from colonial times we, particularly in the south, have maintained a solid expertise in this area. The oh-so-foolish prohibition period, between 1920 and 1933 had the effect of adding clandestine skills that would have shamed the VietCong to the repertoire of the distillers.
One would imagine that this period ended a long time ago. Well, it didn’t, but with the news that last week famed moonshiner ‘Popcorn’ Sutton took his own life rather than go to jail, maybe it has now.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports:
… Appalachian moonshiner Marvin “Popcorn” Sutton, whose incorrigible bootlegging ways were as out of step with modern times as his hillbilly beard and overalls, took his own life rather than go to prison for making white lightning, his widow says.
A few hours earlier she had buried Sutton, 62, in a private ceremony in the mountains around Haywood County, N.C., where he grew up. He went to his grave in a pine casket he bought years ago and kept in a bedroom.
The only positive aspect of this story is that he had written a book Me and my Likker currently retailing for a cool $200 on Amazon. He had finished a further book Daddy Moonshine the day he died and, joy of joys, he had recorded many TV shows on the art and science of making ‘shine. Let’s watch one of them, in silence out of respect.
The full video documentary, The Last One is available from Sucker Punch Pictures.