The MOONSHINER POPCORN SUTTON, Limited First Edition
by Neal Hutcheson, with forewords by Kirk French and David Joy
192 pages | full color
— sample pages —
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A warts-and-all portrait imbued with Sutton’s presence.
—Jon Elliston, WNC Magazine
In Popcorn, Hutcheson met the perfect subject, a man who chose to cling to the past, to preserve (in words and liquid) what he believed was worth preserving, and to answer to no greater law than his own simple conscience. Popcorn Sutton’s legacy is not in worldly goods but in his unique character that will, through Hutcheson’s careful, caring collation, live on. — Bookreporter | read full review
Hutcheson’s book offers readers a glimpse into Popcorn’s wit, jokes and indelible way of speaking, which offers a better understanding of how the people of the region survived.
—Shelby Harrell, The Mountaineer | read full review
The definitive biography of a famous Appalachian moonshiner … its beautiful layouts and glossy paper will make it work as a coffee table book and a keepsake. — Foreword Reviews
Hutcheson deftly navigates the cultural concerns surrounding Sutton in his 240-page work, which seems to be a cross between a beautifully designed coffee table book and a biography backdropped by scads of context and local color.
— Cory Vaillancourt, Smoky Mountain News | read full review
Those interested in Appalachian history and culture would do well to spend time with this book. — The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | read full review
Quite unlike anything else you’re likely to experience … Hutcheson successfully shines a much needed light onto a greatly misunderstood and misanthropic Moonshiner
—Cody Sexton, A Thin Slice of Anxiety
Wow. What an amazing story. I couldn’t put this book down. … The images enhance the book significantly, though the story could stand on its own.
—Judge, 30th Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards
MARVIN ‘POPCORN’ SUTTON (1946-2009) rose from hardscrabble roots in Southern Appalachia to become the world’s most recognizable moonshiner. His embrace of tradition put him at odds with both contemporary American life and the law – but his savvy self-promotion as the last of the old-time moonshiners was thoroughly modern.
He was not only a character and a performer, but a truly gifted craftsman who cared above all to create a product worthy of moonshine’s privileged place in mountain heritage… and which would keep his customers coming back.
Posthumously, Sutton has become larger than life in the eyes of admirers, often called the ‘king of the moonshiners’ and viewed as the very embodiment of Appalachian heritage, symbolizing the independence, ingenuity, and resilience of mountain people. The real Popcorn Sutton, however, was much more complex – and arguably much more interesting. The full story of the man behind the legend is now revealed for the first time in extensive personal interviews, exclusive behind-the-scenes photography, first-hand remembrances, and vital historical context. Ultimately speaking to the complexity of Appalachian identity in a time of rapid transformation, The Moonshiner Popcorn Sutton is a celebration of craft, heritage, and irrepressible character.
Interview excerpts
I’ve dug ditches. I’ve worked on construction. I’ve done everything. And there ain’t nothin’ no harder than what I’m a-doin’, but it’s just in my blood.
My granddaddy… he made likker all his life, and he took the likker and sold it, and then took the money and helped buy the materials it took to build the first Baptist church on Hemphill that was ever built. I guess don’t matter how you get your money, if you put it in the right place, I guess the good lord’d probably bless you for it anyway, whether you got it a-sellin’ ’taters or makin’ likker. When I went to church, once a month I’d drop a hundred dollar bill in the collection plate and I knowed damn well they knowed I didn’t get it a-sellin’ ’taters.
Me and Daddy made it together for thirty years in one place and never was caught. His daddy was a moonshiner too, but Daddy’s like myself – he more or less learned it on his own what he knowed about it. Of course, I’ve had people tell me things that I tried and it worked. Some of it didn’t work. But most of it I more or less invented it on my own what I know about it. I swore when I was a little ol’ kid, if I ever got big enough, I’d make likker and haul it. And I did.
[ How many jars of liquor do you think you’ve made in your life? ]
The hell fire! I don’t even guess they even make numbers that damn long! Feller asked me one time, said, ‘You got any likker?’ I said, ‘I tell you what you do.’ I said, ‘You bring you a eighteen-wheeler and I’ll bust the damn tires on it.’
NEAL HUTCHESON is an Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker with a large body of work centered on heritage in transition. Hutcheson’s documentary Mountain Talk (2002) featured Popcorn Sutton among an ensemble of personalities from Western North Carolina; he subsequently produced two documentary features with Sutton – the Emmy award-winning The Last One (2009) and Popcorn Sutton – A Hell of a Life (2014). In The Moonshiner Popcorn Sutton, Hutcheson draws on a wealth of first-hand source materials and interviews to tell the story of the man behind the myth.
KIRK FRENCH is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Pennsylvania State University, where he created a popular course entitled Anthropology of Alcohol or ‘Booze and Culture.’ Over fourteen hundred students enroll in the class each year, making it the largest anthropology course in the United States. Learn more about Kirk French
DAVID JOY is the author of the Edgar nominated novel Where All Light Tends To Go, as well as the critically-acclaimed novels The Weight Of This World, The Line That Held Us, and When These Mountains Burn. His latest short stories and essays have appeared in Time, The New York Times Magazine, Garden & Gun, and The Bitter Southerner. Joy lives in the North Carolina mountains. Learn more about David Joy
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