A life-hardened man chiseled and carved out of the rocks and trees of his North Carolina mountain birthplace has been lauded by fans of the old ways in which he was set. He was chased and occasionally caught by the legal system for which he had only scant respect. Now he is seen vividly through the lens of Appalachian history, language and culture by Neal Hutcheson, an expert in all three disciplines, who could count himself as a friend to the legendary Marvin “Popcorn” Sutton. 

About 20 years ago, Hutcheson first made his way to the wild haunts of a man who, he records, “seemed to have stepped out of Appalachian yesteryear.” Raised in the backwoods in what would now seem abject poverty, Sutton would acquire his famous nickname after a fight with a vending machine and chose the time-honored profession of the region: manufacturing moonshine whiskey. His economic theory was simple: he bought the ingredients, manufactured the product and reaped the profits. But like most of the English, Scots and Irish settlers in those remote peaks and hollers, he would neither charge nor pay taxes on what he vended. He was a master of his trade, relying on tricks transcribed by Hutcheson in vibrant accents picked up by his practiced ear: “Always when I hauled a load of likker, a good time to haul it was when it’z a-rainin’. The law’s not too apt to stop you when it’s a pourin’ rain down, unless you done somethin’ pretty damn bad.”

"Popcorn Sutton’s legacy is not in worldly goods but in his unique character that will, through Hutcheson’s careful, caring collation, live on."

With his signature overalls, long, bushy beard and hand-painted signs like “Moonshine shack keep yore dam ass out” gracing his business property, Sutton became known in the region and beyond, invited to large outdoor gatherings just to add to the country ambience. Such greats as Willie Nelson and Earl Scruggs were happy to meet with him. But when praised as a “hero” for flaunting societal norms, Sutton would scornfully, albeit proudly, respond that he was a “lowlife.”

Hutcheson has created a niche for himself in academia and the wider world through his award-winning film documentaries exploring the nuances of various local cultures and languages. He has produced three movies about Sutton: This Is the Last Dam Run of Likker I’ll Ever Make, The Last One and Popcorn Sutton: A Hell of a Life. His book includes numerous recorded monologues by the moonshiner, whose accent and sentence construction will add an authentic feel to anyone familiar with the complex, sometimes harsh argot of the mountains, while introducing it to less trained ears.

The photography in this large-size volume is a treasure in itself, capturing Sutton at work and relaxing, under the green cover of the forests where his still and its jars of liquid fire were well concealed. Hutcheson examines the theory that Appalachian culture, as embodied in Sutton’s colorful personage, is something of a figment --- yet, too, it exists for those willing to seek it out, parse it and give it parlor space as Hutcheson has done.

In Sutton, 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.