The Last One

I just got off my phone with my dad who gave me a bit of bad news: Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton was found dead by his wife Tuesday morning from a suicide.

Popcorn Sutton was the last of a dying, and now dead, I guess, breed. He was a legend throughout the Smoky Mountains and surrounding areas, mainly in North Carolina and Tennessee, for making moonshine. Now, this isn't "making moonshine" like I used to make beer. Popcorn was the real deal. He was born near Maggie Valley, NC, grew up in the mountains, was good friends with Willie Nelson, a great banjo player, having released an album, and had distilleries set up throughout the Smokies. He was a man who lived by his own rules and kept alive a tradition hundreds of years old. When you think of traditional moonshiners, you're thinking of Popcorn. Yes, they still exist. Unfortunately, the government is well aware of this and they busted Popcorn a year ago, seizing the tools of his trade, along with 800 gallons of moonshine. This was problematic on a personal level because Popcorn is who my parents got their shine from and I gotta tell ya, the stuff was good. He pleaded not guilty in court and was told that he could face up to 15 years in prison and pay half a million in fines, simply for selling untaxed whiskey. (From what I understand, the government doesn't like it when they don't get their cut.) This is not good news for a man diagnosed with cancer. Popcorn's lawyers and family fought to have him put on house arrest, but the judge wouldn't hear it. I don't know what the sentencing was, but the Friday before last Popcorn was given his summons to prison. Refusing to spend one day in prison, he took his own life on Tuesday, dying in his Ford Fairlane from carbon monoxide poisoning.

If you want more info on him, you can read the few books written about him, one of which, "Daddy Moonshine," was written by his long lost daughter, a New England historian, and, in a sad coincidence, released, I believe, on the day of his death. You can also watch the documentary about him, "The Last One." The title is based on Popcorn supposedly making his last "likker" run, but I think it also comes from him truly being the last real moonshiner in the Smokies, if not the country.