Good Old Mountain Dew

“Good Old Mountain Dew” , sometimes called simply “Mountain Dew” or “Real Old Mountain Dew”, is an Appalachian folk song composed by Bascom Lamar Lunsford and Scotty Wiseman. There are two versions of the lyrics, a 1928 version written by Lunsford and a 1935 adaptation by Wiseman. Both versions of the song are about moonshine. The 1935 version has been widely covered and has entered into the folk tradition. Along with being an amateur folklorist and musician, Bascom Lamar Lunsford was a lawyer practicing in rural North Carolina during the 1920s.  At the time, the manufacturing of beverage alcohol for non-medicinal purposes was illegal in the United States due to prohibition, but North Carolina residents nevertheless continued their longstanding tradition of making a form of illegal whiskey called moonshine. Lunsford frequently defended local clients that were accused of the practice  and the original lyrics and banjo accompaniment to “Good Old Mountain Dew” were written during the course of one of these cases. In 1928, Lunsford recorded the song for Brunswick Records. Scotty Wiseman, of the duo Lulu Belle and Scotty, was a friend of Lunsford’s.  When Lulu Belle and Scotty needed one more song to finish a 1935 record for Vocalion Records,  Wiseman suggested using the song his friend had written. To make the piece appeal to more people, Wiseman added the modern chorus and replaced verses about a man appearing in court with verses about making moonshine. Two years later, at the National Folk Festival in Chicago, Wiseman showed his version to Lunsford. Lunsford was impressed with it; later the same night, he sold the song to Wiseman for $25  so he could buy a train ticket back to North Carolina.  Wiseman copyrighted the song and made sure that 50% of the royalties it earned were given to Lunsford until Lunsford’s death