Terrific to find Combs' copy, 12-stringer. Couple of thoughts:

Could "Moonshiner" might have split off from another song? Could it originally have been a floating verse in some other song family like "Rye Whiskey?" I didn't give much credit to the "Rye Whiskey" tie-in before, but now I'm wondering.

Either that, or Combs' informant (or Combs himself?) might have put together a version that combined "Moonshiner" with one of the floating-verse songs that shares verses with "Rye Whiskey" such as "Way Up on Clinch Mountain"? Offhand I can't recall where that "My mind is to marry...you wounded my heart" verse comes from, but that is yet another southern Appalachian love lament. "Ofttimes I have wondered how women love men" is another. And there's a hint of "Behind the Stone Walls" in the next-to last verse, too.

Given the odd verses in Combs' version, how much influence on this did Combs exert, or did his informant sing it exactly this way? Any way to find out?

Bob