Do you think you know everything about the history of the mountain moonlight?
A new documentary on the regional moonshine story “The Spirits Still Move Them” from the Center for Cultural Preservation may help paint a more complete picture.
Award-winning director and producer of 40 history films, David Weintraub, interviews nearly three dozen moon tailors and their families in western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, and the dark corner of South Carolina to tell a story of moonshine history that has never been told before has been.
“The myth that all moon tailors are violent, lazy, drunk criminals who hide in the forest with long beards and lengthy arrest records has been told by the media for over 100 years,” Weintraub said that only the most entrepreneurial farmers did what they did did to get through difficult circumstances and put food on the table. It’s a fascinating story, and far more interesting than the myths and distortions we’ve heard. ”
The film digs deep into Southern Appalachian history, revealing the mountaineering stereotypes and inventions that have been fed for generations to movies and cable television programs from “The Beverly Hillbillies” to the “Moonshiner Show”.
“People think all mooncutters were outlaws, but it was the federal government that passed an excise tax after the Civil War that poor farmers had to bear,” says Cody Bradford, fifth generation moonlight and owner of Howling Moon Distillery in Asheville either starve to death or make alcohol, and it’s not difficult to understand which one they chose. ”
Bradford and his family are featured in the film, as are Moon Tailors from Yancey County to Spartanburg County. What is most surprising to many is that many of the moon tailors were African American, women, and Native Americans. And this moonlight has played a central role in medicine since the civil war.
The Spirits Still Move Them premieres on June 17th at 7pm at The Orange Peel in Asheville, on June 18th at 8pm at North River Farms in Mills River and on June 20th at 8pm at the Southern Appalachian Brewery in Hendersonville.
Tickets are available online at www.saveculture.org or by calling the center at 828-692-8062.