Today is the first Thursday of June, AKA National Moonshine Day! The illicit trade in strong spirits has a long history ...

Today is the first Thursday of June, AKA National Moonshine Day! The illicit trade in strong spirits has a long history in the Tar Heel state, dating back to coastal colonial times and stretching through Prohibition in Appalachia and beyond. In honor of the holiday, we’ve made a playlist of our favorite 14 songs by North Carolinians about hooch, mountain dew, white lightning and shine (link in bio). So if you partake, why not find a (legal) bottle or check out a distillery offering moonshine and throw on our mix! TRACKLIST: “Old Mountain Dew,” Bascom Lamar Lunsford “Moonshine,” Frank Proffitt “Darling Corey,” The Watson Family “If the River Was Whiskey,” Charlie Poole “Pass Around the Bottle & We’ll All Take a Drink,” The Skillet-Lickers “Old Mountain Dew,” Doc Watson “Moonshiner’s Daughter,” Rhiannon Giddens “Dance All Night with a Bottle in Your Hand,” The Skillet-Lickers “Old Moonshiner,” Russell Johnson “Paddy Won’t You Drink Some Good Old Moonshine,” The Skillet-Lickers “Let the Moonshine,” Luke Combs “Prohibition - Yes or No,” The Skillet-Lickers “White Lightning,” The Big Bopper “Mountain Dew,” The Stanley Brothers Photo 1: Hamlet, 100 Gallon Whiskey Still captured by Sheriff Hinson & deputies, May 25, 1909. Photo by Frank Marchant. Photo 2: Moonshine still in the heart of the mountains Photo 3: Illicit distillation of liquors, Haw carried to market., Harper's 7 Dec 1867. All images are from the General Negative Collection, State Archives of NC (@nc _archives_photos).