“Moonshiner” — also known as “The Moonshiner” and “Kentucky Moonshiner” — is a traditional song of uncertain origin. It was preserved for years in oral tradition before it was collected; its earliest known printed version appeared in Carl Sandburg’s 1927 anthology “The American Songbag,” sourced from Kentucky singers, and the banjoist Buell Kazee made an early recording the same year.
The song’s nationality has long been debated: some scholars trace it to American sources, while others, including the Clancy Brothers, who helped popularize it, treat it as Irish. It likely borrows phrases from several older songs. Either way, the lyric is a first-person boast and lament of a moonshiner and drinker — proud of his trade, fond of his whiskey, and resigned to a hard, wandering life.
The song has been sung across folk, Irish, country, and bluegrass traditions.
