The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #95516   Message #1858402
Posted By: Malcolm Douglas
13-Oct-06 - 10:20 PM
Thread Name: Origins: origin of Moonshiner
Subject: RE: Origins: origin of Moonshiner
Not a very sophisticated search technique! Try instead typing moonshiner into the search engine here (link at the top of every page).

It appears to be an American song, like so many which are assumed nowadays to be Irish because they were once recorded by the Clancy Brothers. The opening lines of some versions seem to be borrowed from 'The Wild Rover' (which itself only became "Irish" via the Clancys or the Dubliners; I forget which. See numerous discussions here for details).