Famed moonshiner kills self to avoid jail

AJC ^ | March 18, 2009 | AP

[Vigilantcitizen]

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Famed 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.

“He couldn’t go to prison. His mind would just not accept it. … So I credit the federal government for my husband being dead, I really do,” Pam Sutton told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday from the couple’s home in the Parrottsville community, about 50 miles east of Knoxville.

[dblshot]

Now let me tell the story, I can tell it all
About the mountain boy who ran illegal alcohol
His daddy made the whiskey, son, he drove the load
When his engine roared,
They called the highway thunder road.
Sometimes into ashville, sometimes memphis town
The revenoors chased him but they couldn’t run him
Down
Each time they thought they had him,
His engine would explode
He’d go by like they were standin’ still on thunder
Road.

[Chorus]
And there was thunder, thunder over thunder road
Thunder was his engine, and white lightning was his
Load
There was moonshine, moonshine to quench the devil’s thirst
The law they swore they’d get him, but the devil got
Him first.
On the first of april, nineteen fifty-four
A federal man sent word he’d better make his run no
More
He said two hundred agents were coverin’ the state
Whichever road he tried to take, they’d get him sure as
Fate.
Son, his daddy told him, make this run your last
Your tank is filled with hundred-proof,
You’re all tuned up and gassed
Now, don’t take any chances, if you can’t get through
I’d rather have you back again than all that mountain
Dew

[Chorus]

Roarin’ out of harlan, revving’ up his mill
He shot the gap at cumberland,
And screamed by maynordsville
With g-men on his taillights, roadblocks up ahead
The mountain boy took roads that even angels feared
To tread.
Blazing’ right through knoxville, out on kingston pike
Then right outside of Beardon, there they made the fatal
Strike
He left the road at ninety, that’s all there is to say
The devil got the moonshine and the mountain boy
That day

[Chorus]

Lyrics form Thunder Road

[Tennessee_Bob]

I don’t know where it came from, but everything I’ve had from this area has been pretty good.

[Vigilantcitizen]

“Popcorn” sounds like he earned that nick by having an accident or 2 during his time making that corn liquor.

He got that name for busting a 10 cent popcorn machine in a bar.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

There a guy hereabouts who can make white liquor. Its something around 170 proof and does a great job on paint brushes.

[edpc]

Or was he afraid that obama was going to raise his taxes?

No, he did it because someone told him Obama's election meant death to all stereotypes.

[airborne]

I have a neighbor who makes ‘shine.

It's pretty good, if you can keep it down!

Darn shame you can have a microbrewery but not a still.

[Nathan Zachary]

I’ll be making a batch of Dandelion Wine this Spring in his honor. :)

Distill it. That will be more in his honor. Need to know how to make a good still?

http://www.moonshine-still.com/page10.htm

That will add a whole new dimension to your dandelion wine. :o)

[mosaicwolf]

"Live Free or Die".

Yes, Freedom and Liberty mean different things to different people. Soldiers fight and die for it. Nothing wrong with the Bootleggers perspective here.

Bottom line is... there are more important things than life as we perceive it in the world of form.(My opinion of course)

[A Cyrenian]

Tomorrow’s headlines should read “Obama KILLS Popcorn!”.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Shave the beard and take away the hat and you have my granddaddy. Hillbilly and country to the core.

[colinhester]

“Honestly, of all the things to worry about right now.”

No kidding......

[cripplecreek]

I remember this guy from the history channel.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.

[Nathan Zachary]

"He got that name for busting a 10 cent popcorn machine in a bar."

Oh well. Blowing up a few stills sounds better.

[Vigilantcitizen]

Who’s worried?

[Alberta's Child]

Good point. And the Whiskey Rebellion of the early 1790s was one of the little-known, but defining episodes of our nation's history.

You could probably even even make the case that the United States of America as envisioned by its founders really only lasted a few years before it adopted a very British approach to taxation, excessive use of Federal force, etc.

[Wpin]

“So I credit the federal government for my husband being dead ...

Sounds like Pam was tired of him.”

In “hillbilly” lingo, saying “I credit...” is the same as you saying “I blame...”

[Ezekiel]

[Vigilantcitizen]

I remember this guy from the history channel.

Me too. Coming from hillbilly ancestry, I really enjoyed that program.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Looks like he got on the wrong side of the ethanol cartel. The “green energy” liberals want all the money for themselves.

/sarc