The public long has been fascinated by moonshining and those manufacturing illegal liquor in the hollows of North Carolina and Virginia — with one of that craft’s most-colorful figures to be highlighted in Mount Airy soon.
Marvin “Popcorn” Sutton was a moonshiner, bootlegger and entrepreneur from Haywood County known as a rebellious individual who brazenly defied authorities in practicing and defending what many consider a natural mountain tradition.
Sutton, who suffered an untimely death in 2009, is to be featured by Neal Hutcheson, an Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker, author and photographer, who will appear here for a pair of events on Sept. 11.
From 1 to 3 p.m. that Sunday, Hutcheson is scheduled to present his 2021 book “The Moonshiner Popcorn Sutton” at Mount Airy Museum of Regional History on North Main Street and discuss the unique place moonshining holds in the Appalachian heritage.
This is part of a History Talks series hosted by the museum, with admission free to public. The program will be held in the third-floor classroom of the facility.
“The Moonshiner Popcorn Sutton” won a 2022 National Indie Excellence Award and a 2022 Outstanding Book Award from The Independent Publishers Book Awards, the largest unaffiliated book contest in the world, according to promotional material regarding the author’s upcoming appearance.
Hutcheson recounts Sutton’s path to fame in “The Moonshiner Popcorn Sutton” and attempts to sort fact from fiction, concluding that “the accumulation of stories, songs, eulogies and tributes about Popcorn offers a fascinating illustration of the process through which folk become folklore.”
Documentary showing
Later on Sept. 11, at 4 p.m., Hutcheson is slated to present his film that has become a cult classic “This is the Last Dam Run of Likker I’ll Ever Make,” at the Historic Earle Theater on North Main Street, hosted by the Surry Arts Council.
This is coinciding with the 20th anniversary of that production.
In “This is the Last Dam Run of Likker I’ll Ever Make,” Sutton demonstrates the art, craft and history of moonshine distillation.
The documentary originally was available only on VHS tapes bought from the moonshiner himself — which rapidly circulated as people made home copies and passed them to friends and family while laying a foundation for his growing fame, according to Hutcheson.
It eventually drew the attention of television producers in Boston and New York.
“This is the Last Dam Run of Likker I’ll Ever Make” was digitally remastered this year and it is that version of the film which will be screened at the Earle in a theatrical context.
The presentation is to include an introduction and a question-and-answer session with the filmmaker.
Tickets cost $8 plus tax, with proceeds to benefit the Surry Arts Council.
The local non-profit organization operates the Andy Griffith Playhouse, Andy Griffith Museum and Blackmon Amphitheatre in addition to the Historic Earle Theatre.
Surry Arts Council Executive Director Tanya Jones is enthusiastic about the upcoming presentation on a figure whom she agreed highlights a culture widely embraced in this region of the country.
Born in Maggie Valley, Sutton died in March 2009 at age 62 at his home in Tennessee, committing suicide via carbon monoxide poisoning while facing prison on federal charges relating to moonshining and illegal firearm possession.
Though he is gone from that scene, Sutton’s name comes up frequently on the popular “Moonshiners” reality-TV series on the Discovery network, which has broadened his fan base.
This has included modern-day moonshiners making liquor runs at one of Sutton’s old still sites using his recipes, uncovering a stash of his liquor and sometimes working with one of Sutton’s associates, JB Rader.
Hutcheson’s best-known works center on Appalachian heritage in transition.
He has been the recipient of a North Carolina Arts Council Artist Fellowship, the Brown Hudson Award from the North Carolina Folklore Society, the North Carolina Filmmaker Award and three regional Emmy Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
A Hutcheson documentary “Mountain Talk” (2002) also featured Popcorn Sutton, and along with “This is the Last Dam Run of Likker I’ll Ever Make,” he produced two other documentaries with Sutton, the Emmy-winning “The Last One” (2009) and “Popcorn Sutton – A Hell of a Life (2014).”
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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