(c) 2004 Melody Ko from North Carolina 24/7Billed as the last living authority on Moonshine (he wasn't), he was none the less a folk hero to tourists and public television documentarist. Popcorn was truly a moonshiner and bootlegger (the two are different but related professions), but he'll hardly be the last. There'll probably never be another moonshiner with the personality of Popcorn Sutton, and that's maybe not necessarily a bad thing. But, As long as there is corn, yeast, cane sugar, and spring water, there'll be moonshine; Carolina moonshine.
Behind every mason jar of shine there's a moonshiner. There were a few "cookers" in my own family tree. From what I remember of family stories told winter evenings around the fire place, I don't think any of them could curse like Mr. Sutton. It's been said that his normal conversation would out curse a full battleship of sailors. And, I know none of my ancestral delegation to the mountain medicinal industry ever made a public spectacle of themselves like Mr. Sutton did.
Popcorn did make for a colorful character though, and through that, I suppose he enriched our cultural heritage. Maybe enriched is too strong a word. Embellished I think would be more proper. He often referred to his strongest shine as "five fights a pint". Yep. I think embellished is a good proper word. Popcorn Sutton embellished our cultural heritage, and did a pretty good job of embellishing his own existence.
Anyway. Here's to you Popcorn! May he rest in peace, in that special spot that he picked out himself, which may or may not be here beneath the Carolina moon. That's for Popcorn to know and the remainder of us to wonder about.
Behind every mason jar of shine there's a moonshiner. There were a few "cookers" in my own family tree. From what I remember of family stories told winter evenings around the fire place, I don't think any of them could curse like Mr. Sutton. It's been said that his normal conversation would out curse a full battleship of sailors. And, I know none of my ancestral delegation to the mountain medicinal industry ever made a public spectacle of themselves like Mr. Sutton did.
Popcorn did make for a colorful character though, and through that, I suppose he enriched our cultural heritage. Maybe enriched is too strong a word. Embellished I think would be more proper. He often referred to his strongest shine as "five fights a pint". Yep. I think embellished is a good proper word. Popcorn Sutton embellished our cultural heritage, and did a pretty good job of embellishing his own existence.
Anyway. Here's to you Popcorn! May he rest in peace, in that special spot that he picked out himself, which may or may not be here beneath the Carolina moon. That's for Popcorn to know and the remainder of us to wonder about.
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