Road Trip: Moonshine and Music at Woodstick/150 Miles
by Paula Crouch Thrasher
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
- Woodstock in the sticks:
We somehow managed to miss the first three, but the fourth annual Moonshiners’ Reunion and Mountain Music Festival at Plum Hollow Farm near New Prospect, SC, On Friday and Saturday caught our attention. Organizar Barney Barnwell, a fiddler who comes from a long line of moonshiners, promises “plenty of pickin’ in the woods all night long”- so bring your guitars, banjos and fiddles and as Barney says stay all weekend with us . - Shine on, harvest moon:
The folk celebration is the inspiration of Barnwell, who grew up listening to tales of the moonshiners of the ’30’s and ’40’s. He salutes these outlaws of yesteryear with songs like “Pierce Boys” and “Run Grandpa Run.” Says Barnwell: “Whether people like it or not, moonshining is as much a part of Southern culture as Baptists, NASCAR racing, peach ice cream and fatback.” Barnwell’s 50-acre farm-near South Carolina’s “Dark Corner,” one of moonshining’s hot spots- provides a pastoral setting with a covered bandstand and room to spread a quilt. (more…)