Moonshiner (Traditional Folk Ballad) - Sam Shackleton

Busking a wee traditional Irish-American folk ballad called “Moonshiner” underneath beautiful Edinburgh Castle, Scotland! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 This lovely wee song is of disputed origins, with many such as the Clancy Brothers claiming this song came from Ireland, and others claiming it orginated in North America. It shares many similarities with folk songs such as the Wild Rover, and if I were to guess, it most likely originated in Ireland, about the making of poitín - the original Irish moonshine - and was then carried to North America by Irish immigrants. Either way, its a beautiful wee folk ballad about drinking which once again highlights the many connections between the Celtic and North American folk music traditions!! 🤘🥃
#folkmusic #traditionalmusic #countrymusic #appalachian #appalachianmusic #edinburgh #scotland #drinkingsong #banjo #clawhammer #irishmusic

[@Tom-ds2bx]

Any chance of getting this version on streaming platforms?? I'm familiar with Irish folk and I've never heard The Moonshiner quite like this before. Regardless, a Powerful Rendition incredible stuff Sam

[@sigsour5421]

This ain’t Irish hun

[@BornaMartyr05]

He is Scottish

[@Tom-ds2bx]

@sigsour5421 @Bornamatyr05 I know he is scottish and thats obviously Edinburgh. The song is renditioned alot in irish folk.

[@theebumble_b123]

​@@sigsour5421yes, but the folk song is an Irish-American folk ballad

[@charleshash4919]

​@@BornaMartyr05 And that's Edinborough Castle in the background.

[@mravacadoman323]

Jesse Stewart, this first person i heard sing this and all together my favorite cover of this song ❤ RIP you'll be missed forever

[@figgy7099]

John Wamsley (Jason Walton) did a really good job of the Moonshiner in an episode of the Waltons, you can find it here on YT, very cool.

[@BennieDuck]

Man this is so awesome. What a nice sound

[@knownanonymous1691]

I live on the other side of the globe and adore these folk songs! Genuinely beautiful pieces of music

[@Virginia-Range-Time]

I hope that when I travel to Scotland, i get to see you play live. My wife and i have been hooked since i found you on gems on vhs a few years ago

[@doww3844]

Fuckin right music just right for the ears👍🍻💯much love from Canada cheers

[@JDiaz21]

Bufff! Yeahh! Goodjob Sam! 🤠🤠👌🏽 Thanks for your músic.

[@Rhubarb.and.Crustard]

Always stellar stuff Sam, sounds ace with the guitar 👍

[@shuddupeyaface]

Proper music and culture! love it and don't stop x

[@Robin_XI]

We need it on streaming platforms please please

[@SketchTM]

You're so talented, man.

[@PhoenixB97]

Cheers from Southern Appalachia brother.

[@stepheng.trollip7927]

I know the Uncle Tupelo version, didn't know it was a traditional tune. Thanks!

[@JoshuaRosenberger]

i listen to this everyday and idk why

[@meatcreap]

This is such a beautiful performance, man. Thank you

[@clawhammerchris]

Awesome! I really like that song.

[@CarrotLumberjack]

This is easily my favorite rendition of this song

[@dillonyoung456]

Jesse Stewart will probly always be my favorite version

[@donaldhampton3360]

There was a good version of this on an episode of the Waltons, sung by John Walmsley (Jason Walton).

[@bushratbeachbum]

Hahahahahahahahahaha Really!??!!! In which episode?!

[@donaldhampton3360]

It was from season 7, "The Beau."

[@DrummerJay74]

It's a great version. Walt Robertson version is good as well.

[@leegtc]

I heard this version on instagram and it’s still my favourite, I know plenty of people ask for a Spotify version, but my man it’s the only one I want

[@dillonyoung456]

Jesse Stewart ❤

[@TheSkater699]

You're amazing

[@francescodeluca5611]

La mia preferita, meravigliosa, sempre

[@bushratbeachbum]

Hahahaha 900 bottles, and i was the 901st like! Love your style dude. Don't go changing!

[@CraigStCyrPlus]

I learned of this song from Mr. Dylan - he sang it as an early 20s man. This version is my 2nd ever heard.

[@ktznchz]

I only know of this song from a Bob Dylan version. Is it from Appalachia originally or from British Isles?

[@CraigStCyrPlus]

My immediate thoughts are that if Dylan was singing it in his early 20s in 1960s, and this young lad here is singing about it in Scotland - its probably a song from Europe. Just going off the duration of Scotland over Appalachia, really.

[@shcxatter2]

Bob learned it from either Dave Van Ronk or Liam Clancy, so yeah it probably from the Brits.

[@ktznchz]

@shcxatter2 super appreciate that!!

[@bgabriel6532]

Keep it up man! Can't wait for you to come to NYC

[@ChunkieBoi777]

O’ I’ve been a moonshiner for many’s a year I’ve spent all my money on whisky and beer I’ll go to some hollow and set up my still And I’ll trade you a gallon for a 2 dollar bill I’ll go to some ale house and I’ll drink with my friends No woman to follow or see what I spend God bless all ye women, I wish ye were mine And your breath smells as sweet as the dew on the vine I love drinking whisky I’m drunk all the time Some 900 bottle I’ve killed in my time O’ I love drinking whisky and I drink Poitín too And if I get drunk man that’s nothin to you To help me sing with :)

[@red4life848]

Class similar to been a wild rover brilliant

[@doodle2174]

Sounds amazing!

[@dubmanx1]

Fantastic vocal delivery. Told the story beuatifully. The best version Ive heard of this song Ive heard apart from the Dylan version.

[@octavia-lilywindish2857]

I love this please can we get married

[@puckvanrozendaal9333]

Absolutely beautiful. Love from the Netherlands. ❤

[@TreespeakerOfTheLand]

yo, more Dutch Folk lovers :)

[@danwebb4418]

It all started in Ireland, I'm told that Bob Dylan got this song from the singing of folk singer and Irishman Liam Clancy. .Slainte to Holland and Utrecht, from Ireland..

[@crusoevanfloyd9888]

this song not available on itunes ? its really great!

[@liveordieunholy6143]

Hell yeah

[@squeegeedaniels2105]

Gaun yersel 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🔥🔥

[@dubhmor]

Is there any direct connection to the second line in the lyrics and Wild Rover like the Corries and Dubliners? Or is it just a coincidence? It's an obvious enough rhyme to make up independently.

[@lildad559]

A lot of these ballads are built off the same structure and take a lot of influence from other music so direct connection maybe but definitely one song influenced the other

[@JacobBpie]

I desperately need to know the tabs for this version. I can hear Em and Am throughout but I cant wrap my head around the chord shape and it being lower on the neck. Was your guitar downtuned for this recording?

[@brandonashley5872]

He is definitely tuned down, probably a whole step, I don't see a capo but maybe he has wrapped something around the neck. Or he could be playing that far down the neck to be in standard key without a capo.

[@dubmanx1]

Hi there, its quite simple. Capo on the 4th fret, which you can see on the vid. Am G Am Am G Am Am G Em Am Am G Am And every time he returns to the Am he hammers on the melody line on the A and D strings. Have fun

[@GF-nm1cl]

Have you seen the Jesse Stewart US trainhopper version

[@hanniballslecter9019]

Jesse Stewarts version in the delousing sessions is absolutely fucking awesome IMO!! and the line "if they whiskey can't kill me at least the heroin will!" Was so fuckin foreshadowing tbh and he left a comment on that video that said "OH BTW I DONT ACTUALLY DO HEROIN!" which aged like fuckin milk bruh considering around 7 years later he fuckin OD'd!!! Shits wild

[@BiscuitBob]

How would I go about learning this on guitar?

[@CraigStCyrPlus]

Am, G, E i think.

[@thetinman9586]

Sorley I love you forever

[@Stuart-d6s]

I'm more than a quarter Irish . .. because I'm related to the Bruce the monarchy is still trying to kill me . 7th Gen James of Macmillan. Lost fugitive Baxter. Douglas Celtic water spirit

[@mattkottman9065]

Bit of pronunciation- in American south you set up a still in a “holler”.

[@meatcreap]

This is such an interesting avenue into this song! Listen to most versions and you'll hear hollow as he says here. I perceived this as someone living in America who brought their brogue with on the boat with them - some time before these pronunciations like 'holler" evolved. This is one of those folk songs that the Irish and Scottish claim as their own just as vehemently as the Americans claim it as theirs. It seems to me that this was written in a beautifully brackish moment on the cusp between these cultures. On a similar note, the second stanza here plays as, "I'll trade you a gallon for a two dollar bill" instead of the more common "If whisky don't kill me; Lord, I don't know what will". Not sure if this can be simply chalked up to being a more Scottish variant of the song, but it totally changes the tenor of everything before and after. The end is totally different as well. The lamentation is more indirect here. Some sadness at the state of dependence trickles through in this version, but the version that I've come to know in America cuts in a different way: Let me eat when I'm hungry Let me drink when I'm dry Two dollars when I'm hard up Religion when I die The whole world is a bottle And life is but a dram When the bottle gets empty Lord, it sure ain't worth a damn

[@northscot9862]

Yankee if for not us you would not be here. my kin (the ones the english did not hang ,or shoot where sent in chains to the far corners of the world) we are SCOTS when we die no matter anywhere on this gods earth our soul returns to SCOTLAND.SLAINTE. SAOR ALA GU BRATH

[@Simp4Gwyn]

I just associate this song with Bob Dylan. Cool to know where it comes from