Comments on: Obituary Of Marvin “Popcorn” Sutton, A Tennessee Moonshiner

By: Robert L. Harris

Robert L. Harris — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 00:37:43 +0000

I Agree 100 Per Cent.

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:15:22 +0000

I agree with what you said. It is funny that a family like the Kennedy’s can get rich and become a prominent family in the U.S. by paying bribes to the right people and committing much more heinous crimes than Popcorn ever could. But the ATF decided to go after someone who wasn’t bothering anyone and is recognized as a cultural icon in his area simply because he didn’t know the right people or pay them off.

It is a damn shame what/who our government decides to investigate/prosecute simply because it is so much easier. Of course after twenty some odd years and billions of dollars spent, drugs like cocaine are still rampant and there hasn’t even been a noticible dent in the black market. But keep on with your taxes. The govt. is appropriating your dollars smarter than you ever could!! *wink *wink

By: Laurie

Laurie — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 04:54:14 +0000

I live in Haywood county and have lived across the road from Popcorns Antique stand years ago. My boys used to go over and talk to him frequently. He never minded and as he would collect cans, my boys would spend hours helping him stomp on them and put them in a bag.
He was one of a kind and the last living Moonshiner, it’s a great loss to Maggie Valley as many of tourists would come in hopes of meeting the Legend.
He will be solely missed!!!

By: KyThunder

KyThunder — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 15:41:52 +0000

God bless you Popcorn!

Some are keeping the art and tradition alive still!!

By: Cole Thorne

Cole Thorne — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 03:56:47 +0000

Personally never knew the gentleman, but I knew highly of his “job”. Sad to say that he will be missed by not only myself, but also many others. Rest in peace Popcorn and may the moonshine whiskey distilleries long live as an Appalachian tradition.

By: Btenda Logan

Btenda Logan — Mon, 18 May 2009 00:09:58 +0000

My husband and I are sorry for the lost of a legendary part of the Appalachia mountains of Tennessee, I feel that he was explode and taken advantage of.
My husband and I watched the documentary of Popcorn Sutton.we said he should not have agreed to let them film him actually making moonshine because he probably didn’t realize that he was setting himself up for the Federal Government to come after him. Even through he was doing something illegal by modern day society he was living in his part of society not main stream society. He was not selling moonshine like the bootleggers sell their illegal whiskey and the drug dealers sell their illegal drugs, he was in the mountains during what came natural to him, he was not getting rich from what he was doing.
I know what he did was not right but exposing him to get something to make was not right either.

By: Rick Carpenter

Rick Carpenter — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:29:30 +0000

Oh, I’m a good old Rebel soldier, now that’s just what I am;
For this “Fair Land of Freedom” I do not give a damn!
I’m glad I fit against it, I only wish we’d won,
And I don’t want no pardon for anything I done.

I hates the Constitution, this “Great Republic,” too!
I hates the Freedman’s Bureau and uniforms of blue!
I hates the nasty eagle with all its brags and fuss,
And the lying, thieving Yankees, I hates ‘em wuss and wuss!

I hates the Yankee nation and everything they do,
I hates the Declaration of Independence, too!
I hates the “Glorious Union” — ’tis dripping with our blood,
And I hates their striped banner, and I fit it all I could.

I followed old Marse Robert for four years, near about,
Got wounded in three places, and starved at Point Lookout.
I cotched the “roomatism” a’campin’ in the snow,
But I killed a chance o’ Yankees, and I’d like to kill some mo’!

Three hundred thousand Yankees is stiff in Southern dust!
We got three hundred thousand before they conquered us.
They died of Southern fever and Southern steel and shot,
But I wish we’d got three million instead of what we got.

I can’t take up my musket and fight ‘em now no more,
But I ain’t a’gonna love ‘em, now that’s for sartain sure!
I do not want no pardon for what I was and am,
And I won’t be reconstructed, and I do not care a damn!

R.I.P. Popcorn

By: Henry

Henry — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 13:58:08 +0000

Popcorn says **** you, too, revenuers.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 09:25:35 +0000

You’re right…the Feds took away a “legend” of the “old school” because he was an “easy mark”…..Maybe they should be doing some “real work” like busting and destroying meth labs….but that might overtax their little “9-5″ minds….

By: Bruce

Bruce — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 09:18:46 +0000

Pam, my heart goes out to you because “Popcorn” will always live in our hearts….I even named one of my pups “Popcorn” when he was born last year and I’ve never taken a “swig” of moonshine in my life but I was just so impressed by the independence of “Popcorn” and his way of life….By WHY did he take his life??…..he could have done 18 months “standing up” ( and been out in 12)…..

There are far worse things than moonshining….Maybe the Feds should conentrate on some of the “meth” labs in the woods instead of the “liquor stills” but for them, that would be too much work…they’d rather just go for the “easy” marks….

Pam, just remember your “good man”, hold him close always as we all will….Yes, he was “scrawny” to my “large”, bearded to my shaven face and “Loud” to my “Quiet”….but I will always remember him as larger than myself and I am the a better man for having known him….GOD BLESS AND KEEP YOU!!!……

By: Ordinary Jill

Ordinary Jill — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 01:46:31 +0000

Appalachia (and America) has just become a far less colorful place. Back in the 1970s, my father visited a friend in North Carolina who took him to see a real moonshine operation run by some friends of his. Dad was impressed by the quantity of well-maintained, shiny copper equipment, though not by the quality of the product, since they didn’t bother aging it in oak barrels for several years. It’s sad that the federal government felt the need to expend resources going after an old moonshiner instead of focusing on meth labs.