Run Popcorn, Run

I've been reading about Popcorn Sutton recently.  He was one of my heroes.  A moonshiner, hiding from the revenuers and pretty successful at the escape. I liked that he did his thing.  He seemed like the real McCoy.  Until.

Until I learned he played to the masses.  It was said he was quite the con artist.  An entertainer, a man who capitalized on being what his audience wanted to see. 

Oh, the selling out of the southern Appalachians!  It pains me so.  But we loved Popcorn.  His spirit,  his determination.  His secrecy.  And, the recipe.

Yes, he was...WAS my hero.  He blindfolded tv crews and took them to his still.  Wore the bibbed overalls and requisite plaid shirt.  Now let's not forget the full length DUCK DYNASTY style beard. And his 1940s hat.  That's the  kind of hat fitting for the well dressed man about town. 

This writer believed Popcorn was the real deal.  A simple man living out his fantasy.   But rather than serve an eighteen month sentence for making moonshine, he married and committed suicide (so we are told).  Now we are told he played to the audience. 

Check out the trailer:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inbmJy0xJgk

It's been over five years since he passed.  This writer is disappointed but hopeful.  Hopeful to find the real deal.  Somewhere.  Someone who doesn't play to the dollar.  But in the end, Popcorn ran his own show.