When members of the 1939 Southern Recording Expedition pulled up to Peg Hatcher’s home in Ferrum, Va. in a big white van, they wanted to record the old-time musician’s famous fiddling for the Library of Congress. But fiddling wasn’t all Peg was known for. He was also a legendary moonshiner, and he wasn’t exactly trusting of strangers showing up at the door. After all, he’d already spent time in jail as a result of the Great Moonshine Conspiracy of 1935.

“He was pretty leery — he thought they might be coming to get him again. Anybody outside of his circle, he was real standoffish,” shared great-great-granddaughter and fourth-generation moonshiner Anna Prillaman. “But he ended up playing a tune for them, and I’m glad he did, because now I can hear him play and talk. It’s neat that it’s preserved in that way.”

Busted at the age of 39, Hatcher served 18 months for defrauding the government of some $5.5 million in excise whisky taxes — or $95 million in today’s dollars. “Eight people were indicted, but very few pulled time; a lot of people ratted and rolled over and told on others,” said Anna. “Mamaw remembers her daddy saying that people testified against him that he’d never seen in his life. It was a heartache thing.” 

Even after his arrest, Hatcher returned to the music and moonshining life, though on a much smaller scale. “Once a bootlegger, always a bootlegger,” laughed Anna.

More than Hatcher’s fiddle music has been preserved over the years. Not only does his family still make and sell his in-demand product at Rocky Mount, Va.’s Twin Creeks Distillery (albeit legally now) but Hatcher’s great-grandson, Anna’s father Chris Prillaman, still plays the same fiddle immortalized by the moonshine kingpin.

According to Anna, growing up around music and moonshine was an integral part of the family’s life. In addition to Peg, her grandfather played the fiddle; her dad plays the fiddle; her aunt plays the piano and sings; all while Anna dances along.

“After my grandpa died when Dad was 14, my great-great-grandma, Irene, said whoever learned to play Peg’s fiddle first got to keep it,” said Anna. “Daddy was the first one to play at age 16, and he took that fiddle and soared with it.” 

Visitors to Twin Creeks' tasting room often hear Chris Prillaman play, and in the video that runs in the distillery, they also hear one of Peg’s nearly 100-year-old tunes. Music bridges the generations and unites this tight-knit community. Chris Prillaman performs with groups around Roanoke and at the Fiddler’s Convention in Galax.

“On evenings and weekends, the people who lived the bootlegging way of life would get together and play and pass a little something spirited around; it’s just what you did as part of the community,” said Anna. “Some folks still live that kind of way.”

Today, the family honors Peg’s legacy with its Peg Hatcher’s Straight Whiskey, a rye-based spirit aged in Virginia white-oak barrels for two years and made with grain from local farms. Anna calls it “brown liquor kind of fancified,” and believes that it’s a good way to commemorate and highlight her great-great-grandpap’s life. After a 2023 fire at the distillery, it’s almost a miracle the business still exists — only 46 “super-scorched” barrels survived the incident, leading to a rebrand of the moonshine that includes a burnt-looking label.

“We almost lost it all, and that would have been devastating,” said Anna, noting that the distillery still smells like smoke. “But we didn’t, so we’ll continue on. We have a deep passion for it.”

Sounds just like something Peg Hatcher would do.