Sky Moonshine, the estranged daughter of Sutton, published Daddy: The Story of Marvin Popcorn Sutton. Later, in 1981, Sutton was convicted and sentenced in the Haywood County Superior Court in North Carolina for felony possession of a controlled substance. However, he always received only probation sentences. Editors Note: Many thanks to Sucker Punch Pictures for allowing us to use their incredible photos of Popcorn Sutton and his still for this article. Among his many documentaries was one that won an Emmy for its portrayal of his unique personality. While unscrupulous moonshiners distilled their booze through antifreeze-caked radiator pipes (capable of killing a drinker), Popcorn used only new copper tubing. His white lightning wasnt just potent and sweetit was illegal. Popcorn was one of a kind, a man who told it like it was! says Williams. (February 10, 1944 - December 22, 2010) We were fortunate to have a woman at Lions Dragstrip who was so dedicated that she wanted to preserve the performance of every car that raced down the strip. As part of his undercover investigation, an undercover federal officer discovered that Sutton had 500 gallons of moonshine in his possession. Willie Nelson had him onstage at a local show, and Johnny Knoxville taped a visit to Popcorns cabin. As only a legend would be, Popcorn Sutton was actually buried twice. "He was a true moonshiner," his widow added. We can conclude from this that moonshine culture is still thriving in the southern United States. Joe and Pam were not present for Kobe's final NBA game, nor were they in attendance for his jersey retirement ceremony in 2017. As Popcorn once bragged, Im the only man I know of around here thats got a two-inch dick and a six-inch tongue and knows how to use both of em.[pagebreak] Someone of means like Hank Williams Jr., an equity partner with Grosser and Pam Sutton in the Popcorn Sutton Tennessee White Whiskey distillery, which recently celebrated an opening with stars including Kid Rock, Zac Brown, and Travis Tritt. In 2012, Hillbilly Hero and Tom Wilson Jester teamed up to release a photographic book about Sutton, 'The Making and Marketing.' His estranged daughter Sky Sutton, 35, of Northampton, Mass., had just completed a book about him, titled "Daddy Moonshine," the day he died. He became well-known as a liquor king well into his 60s. On October 24, 2009, his body was moved to his Parrottsville estate. Read Also: Legend or lawbreaker: The real story of Popcorn Sutton. But the young cop, whod seen the ravaging effects of drugs and alcohol on the locals, didnt comply. Is Cutie Pie on 'Moonshiners' Still Alive? An Update on - Distractify The couple had three children together, but Popcorn Suttons moonshining operation often took him away from home for long periods of time. He'd gotten probation before, but U.S. District Judge Ronnie Greer said he couldn't do that again, despite Sutton's age and physical infirmities. Neal used footages from 'Mountain Talk' in his next documentary, 'The Last One.' Per NBC News, the famed moonshiner and bootlegger Popcorn Sutton died by suicide, possibly to avoid serving time in federal prison. Some Popcorn Sutton branded products can still be purchased directly from the original company. "She's stiff as a board. The new law wasnt enacted to honor Popcorns legend, though. He was a whole lot smarter than people gave him credit for. Grosser returned on March 16, 2009 to finalize the deal with Popcorn, who was scheduled to go to prison four days later. As one legislator put it, The law is not making legal someone who wants to open a distillery in their barn. and including a lot of other shit came in this country illegal. Bills organizing of the Moonshiners Reunion and Mountain Music Festival will continue, and he will perform at R.J. Rockers Brewery in honor of his music and life. Sutton appeared in several documentaries including This is the Last Dam Run of Likker Ill Ever Make (featured below). Neal Hutcheson, another filmmaker who worked with Sutton, is worth $30 million. Aside from being gluten-free, the whiskey is also popular among those who have dietary restrictions. His thick shaggy beard and slight frame completed the prototypical image of a backwoods mountaineer. It was an absolute honor to meet him. With all his knowledge about shine and his love for animals, especially cats, that makes him number one in my book. She added that the prison sentence and a cancer diagnosis might have had influenced his decision. Yale New Haven Health names Pamela Sutton-Wallace as COO - YNHHS He was selling some stuff. by Loyola Martinez | Dec 28, 2022 | Popcorn. Select the best result to find their address, phone number, relatives, and public records. I walked over and asked if he was the man on the Postcard. Making likker. The History Channel featured him in a 2007 documentary called "Hillbilly: The Real Story.". After Popcorn Suttons death in 2014, Pam was left with a large sum of money. Pamela and Tommy had a whirlwind romance. Making moonshine is relatively simple and inexpensive if you have a pot that can hold at least 5 gallons of liquid and enough space to store the finished product. Crime, whiskey & homemade sex machines: The life, death and legacy of Popcorn Sutton, Americas greatest moonshiner. [12][13]) At around the same time, Sutton produced a home video of the same title and released it on VHS tape. Popcorn Sutton was a moonshiner who was born in Maggie Valley, North Carolina. While we do our best to bring you the most up-to-date information, TheSmokies.com LLC makes no warranties regarding the accuracy or completeness of any content contained within. Many moonshiners associate Popcorn Sutton with moonshine. According to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, the states with the most illegal stills are Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama. The four-word epitaph sums up how he felt about his life, his death, and his legacy:Popcorn said fuck you.Show me more booze.Head over to the girl galleries. Who died on Moonshiners? - Biography Research The Last Hillbilly Hero - Maxim Suttons will stated that the money was to be used to support the continuance of my lifes work. This work includes the production of moonshine, which is illegal in the United States. The company and whiskey brand associated with him have been renamed after him since he died. This time, the local cops would be of no help. Popcorns wife used both original bottles and they are currently available for eBay purchase. His archive footages were featured in the 2016 docuseries 'Moonshiners.'. [38], In 2014, Popcorn Sutton Distilling opened a new distillery in Newport, Tennessee, the county seat of Cocke County. Pass the Mountain Dew! Sutton was first interred at a family graveyard in Mount Sterling, North Carolina. Interestingly, just a year after Sutton died, moonshining was legalized in the US. He was quite a Character. Sutton was born Marvin Sutton, on October 5, 1946, in the tiny town of Maggie Valley, North Carolina, to Bonnie and Vader. He made his home in Cocke County, where cockfighting and moonshining are legend. Pamela Sutton's passing has been publicly announced by Good Sipler Funeral & Cremation Centre, Inc. in Reamstown, PA.Legacy invites you to offer condolences and share memories of Pamela in the Gue Popcorns attire rarely varied: overalls, a flannel shirt and gray brimmed hat, occasionally adorned with a squirrel tail. According to the Internal Revenue Service, the estate of Kate Sutton is valued at around $500 thousand. At our inception 20 years ago, we chose to be different. While Popcorn was under house arrest, motocross star Jamey Grosser showed up unannounced at the cabin one day. She has shown her strength and resilience in the face of adversity, and she is a deserving recipient of the money her husband left behind. Pamela Sutton Obituary (1956 - 2021) - Legacy Remembers The sale included only the distillery, not the brands, which are owned by Popcorn Sutton Distilling LLC, which is based in Ohio. Irwin told Sutton to run nothing but water through it. Sutton began his moonshining and bootlegging empire with just one barrel, that too, at a time when they were considered illicit businesses in the US. Originally, he was buried in an isolated plot in western North Carolina near the graves of his parents. Most of it happened in the last 20 years, if not longer. Pam Sutton: A Hard-Working Woman Who Deserves The Money Left Behind By He had a wood burning stove inside. Pam said that a few days later, after coming home from running errands, she found her husband dead in his Ford. Later that day his wife came home from work to find him dead. NFTs Simplified > Uncategorized > is pam sutton still alive. Bill, who played guitar and harmonica on the show, died in early 2019 after a lengthy battle with cancer. Through it all, there was just one thing that guided him: his likker (as he liked to spell it). Pam SUTTON | Australian Police hates you. Pamela Anderson is alive and well. Reader contributions support the journalistic mission of SMN to remain independent. The federal govt. That's a big problem because now look where we're at. However, Sutton continued producing liquor barrels, and the business eventually grew more prominent. Pam St. Clement Birthday. Birthday: May 21, 1942. For now, let's learn about Popcorn Sutton and his cause of death. In March 2008, Sutton informed an undercover federal officer about the moonshine gallons in Tennessee and Maggie Valley, which he wanted to trade. However, Popcorn's estranged daughter Sky Sutton believed her father died by his terms. View the profiles of people named Pamela Sutton. He published the book at his junk shop in Maggie Valley. One year later, while still on probation from the previous charge, an undercover agent working for the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission discovered 500 gallons of moonshine being housed and produced by Sutton. However, there is no doubt that Pam is a hard-working woman who has been through a lot in her life. When the federal government tried to tax the stuff in the late 1700s, the mountainside distillers violently fought back in what became known as the Whiskey Rebellion. Heres What You Should Know, 29 Best Restaurants in Pigeon Forge, Ranked [2023], Great Smoky Mountains National Park Entrance Fees, What You Should Know, Smoky Mountains in March: Events in Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge [2023], A Simple Guide to Smoky Mountain Parking Passes, Park it Forward. However, since he was diagnosed with cancer, Sutton requested US District Judge Ronnie Greer to grant him house arrest instead of sending him to prison. But this shit right here goes right back to the crooked shit that's been going on before I was born. Support from our readers will help us maintain and strengthen the editorial independence that is crucial to our mission to help make Western North Carolina a better place to call home. But while the cops may not have pursued his bootlegging aggressively, Popcorn got himself in hot water nonetheless. Would loved to have known Popcorn. Sutton's widow said he'd just gotten a letter to report Friday to a medium-security federal prison in south Georgia to begin an 18-month sentence for illegally producing distilled spirits and. he seemed to be a kind old soul. I wander up a grassy hill and read it there where hes now buried, the same spot where his still had gone up in flames. But the real question isnt what he did in 1983 its about the many bouts with the law throughout the 1970s, 1980s and early 2000s. Urban drinks are featured. Popcorn grew up in Maggie Valley and called it home for most of his life, but had largely taken up residence in his later years in Parrrotsville, Tenn., the rural and sparsely populated country around Newport. he still left her $10 million in his will . Moonshiners distillers JB and Bill from Connelly Springs, NC, are now teaching their distilling techniques in both states. DK. This is the Last Dam Run of Likker Ill Ever Make, The Greenbrier Gatlinburg: The best and most haunted restaurant in town, Dign Zone construction theme park coming soon to Sevierville TN, Is Mountain Monsters Real? People had to make a living somehow back then I guess. If you are able, please support The Smoky Mountain News. A moonshine is a spirit created by fermenting cane juice. Even when he came to federal court, he was wearing bib overalls. Spring 2023 enrollment at Western Carolina Univers Waynesville is Haywood Countys only municipal g Jake Tallent vividly remembers the impact that the Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority received a v Book reading, film screening to commemorate Popcorn Sutton, As long as water runs downhill: The story of Popcorn Sutton, Hillbilly Jammers get high on the mountain, Pardon me? Popcorn Sutton, a moonshiner and bootlegger from 1946 to 2009, is regarded as an American legend. Popcorn Sutton's wife, Pam, died in 2009 after a long battle with cancer. See top. Throughout his life, Sutton proudly held on to his Scotch-Irish American ethnicity and boasted about the fact that he had moonshining in his blood. Fontes arrived to find Popcorn Sutton fanning the flames of a still, which had exploded from a gas leak. An incident report filed by the Cocke County Sheriffs Department says that Sutton was discovered dead in his 1982 Ford Fairmont when his wife, Pam Sutton, returned from running errands. I dont believe it or not, but the vast majority of it happened in the last few decades. In 2007, Sutton was caught with over 650 gallons of moonshine by local Cocke County authorities. Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton (October 5, 1946 March 16, 2009) was an American Appalachian moonshiner and bootlegger. "Of course he did. Pamela M. Sutton-Wallace serves as Director of the Company. Told to report to prisonSutton's widow said he'd just gotten a letter to report Friday to a medium-security federal prison in south Georgia to begin an 18-month sentence for illegally producing distilled spirits and being a felon in possession of a gun. Pam Sutton, the wife of the late moonshiner Popcorn Sutton, has been left with a large sum of money following her husbands death. He was convicted of moonshining and illegal firearms possession as a result of his moonshining conviction. My favorite place of hanging out, how not the kitchen! Popcorn Suttons wife, Maybelle, died in 2012 after a long illness. Pam Suttons moonshine is still highly sought-after, and she has won multiple awards for her products. Today, Sky Sutton is a published author, historian and genealogist. Pam Sutton Profiles | Facebook He comes from the old era, said Maggie Valley Police Chief Scott Sutton, describing Popcorn Sutton as the last of his breed. moonshine was made from a recipe passed down through the generations and was sold in the back of his Ford Model A truck. To distinguish himself from the competition, he took pride in quality. [2][10][11] The New York Times later called it "a rambling, obscene, and often hilarious account of his life in the trade". Pam was diagnosed with Stage 3 Bowel Cancer in January 2014. Born in Maggie Valley, North Carolina, [1] [2] he grew up, lived and died in the rural areas around Maggie Valley and nearby Cocke County, Tennessee. Pam Sutton had that steadfast determination and through her incredible penmanship, we can still see just how fast and who won and who . She suspected even then that her daddy might be responsible. Popcorn Suttons story is both tragic and a testament to the ravages of cancer that cancer can cause. Long hailed for her beauty and gutsy film roles, Grier is a Hollywood icon. When the sugar content of the spirit is too high, the sugar content of the spirit will be too sweet, while too little sugar will cause the spirit to ferment poorly. In a final twist, she can now make her papas booze in Tennessee legally if she wantsthe state passed a law shortly after his death authorizing moonshine production. He said Nobody else could be that handsome We both laughed and he proceeded to tell me how he got his Name. I can brag about one thing, Popcorn once said in his thick Southern drawl. This is one of the internets most popular searches about Sutton. Famed Appalachian moonshiner Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton, whose incorrigible bootlegging ways were as out of step with modern times as his hillbilly beard and overalls, took his own life rather than go to prison for making white lightning, his widow says. The lawsuit was settled in 2014. Drinks for urban drinkers If you want a mason jar to store Popcorn Suttons XXX Tennessee White Whiskey, you can also get it. She uses several glassmaking techniques to create decorative, as well as functional . If you have a question about contributing to SMN, please contact us. He seemed interesting and came out with some funny one liners. The couple had been married for 25 years and had three children together. [18] The judge noted that Sutton was still under probation in Tennessee at the time of the federal raid, and said that putting a man on probation again after being convicted five times of various crimes would not serve the community interest. [3][4][5] He wrote a self-published autobiographical guide to moonshining production, self-produced a home video depicting his moonshining activities, was the subject of several documentaries, including one that received a Regional Emmy Award, and is the subject of the award-winning biography and photobook The Moonshiner Popcorn Sutton.[6]. Furthermore, many of these moonshine stills are hidden in rural areas, allowing visitors to experience the moonshine culture in these states. Regina Sutton, his eldest daughter, recalls a time in her youth when her mom opened the cabin door to find a man with a butcher knife sticking out of his neck. Popcorn Sutton - Wikipedia Sutton was sentenced to 18 months in prison in January 2009 for tax evasion. Released in 2008 and broadcast on 'CBS,' the documentary received a 'Southeast Emmy Award' in 2009. Moonshine is romanticized in folklore and in the movies, Cavanaugh declared. You can also show off your personality to your friends and family by tasting it in a different way than any other spirit. [39] At the time of the announcement, it had not been decided whether the Popcorn Sutton brands would continue to be produced under contract by the distillery or not.[39]. Popcorns nickname dates to a barroom brawl between himself and a popcorn machine. The wife of Hall of Fame coach Eddie Sutton died Tuesday at a Tulsa hospital after suffering a stroke in December, according to officials at Ninde Brookside Chapel. Im here to follow the path of Suttons exhumed bones and unravel the mystery behind this modern-day legend. His widow, Pam, told the outlet that he'd just received a letter to report to prison for an 18-month sentence for illegally distilling spirits, as well as felony possession of a firearm. Popcorn Sutton did this in his capacity as the leader of Popcorn Sutton Inc. moonshine was legal in the United States for the first time in a year shortly before Popcorn Sutton died of cancer. As he once said, I dont bother nobody and nobody better damn sure not mess with me. Clearly, the actress is still alive and well today, and she's been in remission for the . It was Popcorns daddy, Vader, who taught him how to make and run the moonshine as deftly as the Suttons before him. Patsy Sutton, wife of Eddie Sutton, dies at 74 | RSN "Popcorn is getting everybody drunk," the governor's Highway Patrol escorts complained and when Irwin told him to stop, Sutton packed up and left, Irwin recalled. Manhunt: What happened to Colin Sutton? Where is he now? Small batches of this alcohol are typically made and can contain 40 to 80 percent alcohol by volume. Sutton conceded he was part of a dying breed in an interview last year with actor Johnny Knoxville for a video posted on Knoxville's "Jackass" Web site. Marvin Popcorn Sutton, 62, was found dead of suspected carbon monoxide poisoning in a car near his Parrotsville, Tenn., residence, days before he was to begin serving an 18-month prison sentence for large-scale moonshine operation. After meeting at a New Year's Eve party in 1994 . Unfortunately, Sutton was not making enough money back then. Living in this area, he made friends with all the sheriffs and local leaders, Fontes, stocky and dark-haired, tells me one afternoon in his wood-paneled office. Kobe Bryant's Parents: Where Are They Now? | Heavy.com Pam Sutton - Lions Automobilia Foundation Popcorn Sutton, an American moonshiner and bootlegger, lived in the United States from 1946 to 2009. He used the freshest white corn for his mash and the coldest, cleanest stream water. He was handed down light charges at the time, netting nothing more than probation. [23], A conventional grave marker was used at the head of Sutton's grave, reading "Marvin Popcorn Sutton / Ex-Moonshiner / October 5, 1946 / March 16, 2009". On October 25, 2013, Jack Daniel's Properties, Inc. filed suit against the distiller of Popcorn Sutton's whiskey, claiming that the newly redesigned bottle, with its square shape, beveled shoulders, and white-on-black label, too closely resembled their own. Pam Sutton married Popcorn Sutton just two years before his death in 2007. Still, his name is synonymous with one of the countys greatest claims to fame: Real mountain moonshine. In 2017, Sutton's Parrottsville estate caught fire. After her death, Suttons business continued to operate, and he continued to produce moonshine until his own death in 2009. Where Is Jungle Pam Hardy Now? As industrious about marketing his booze as he was about making it, Popcorn spent decades traveling the South, stealthily pawning jars from the back of his vintage rides. On November 9, 2010, Hank Williams Jr. announced his partnership with J&M Concepts LLC and widow Pam Sutton to distill and distribute a brand of whiskey named after Sutton that was asserted to follow his legacy. All rights reserved. "I think most people have a warm feeling for him, but he bragged so much about it (moonshining)," Irwin said. According to the report, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama have the most moonshiners, with a combined total of 1,634 stills seized by law enforcement. The suit asked that all current existing bottles be taken off the market and that all profits from the sales of those bottles be handed over to Jack Daniel's. Pam Sutton: The Wife Of A Moonshining Legend | Popcorn Carnival