Photo by Lisa Bicknell
Michael “Moonshine Mike” Stallings holds a piece of chainsaw art he created. He has appeared recently on a Netflix series and in a documentary about his life. Stallings is also a talented artist and musician.
By: Lisa Bicknell
“Every accomplishment begins with a decision to try.”
Michael Stallings lives his life by this motto, so when he was asked to be a commentator on a show called Heist, currently streaming on Netflix, he was quick to agree.
That invitation was the result of meeting someone who was friends with a producer on A&E. They thought Michael would be perfect to represent a viewpoint from eastern Kentucky on the show.
On February 20, 2020, “a big crew from LA,” four van loads of them, showed up at the Stallings’ farm with cameras to do the filming.
Michael and Sondra were told that the camera equipment was the same used to film The Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix.
Not only has Mike been featured in a Netflix series, but he’s the subject of a documentary titled, “Who is Michael Stallings?”
That project developed out of a connection through Donnie Benton, who has been featured in a series on the Discovery Channel about moonshiners.
“Every accomplishment begins with a decision to try.”
It’s clear by the skills Michael has picked up over the years, that he pays more than lip service to those words.
Stallings is a musician. He plays at least eight instruments fluently, including the guitar, mandolin, bass guitar, and harmonica. He’s currently learning to play the fiddle.
Not only is Stallings a musician, but he crochets, does chainsaw carvings, macrame, leatherwork, beadwork, and he’s been a tattoo artist. He and his wife Sondra Snowden Stallings both bear tattoos that he has designed. He’s a coppersmith and he builds willow furniture. He “dabbles” in photography, video work and is an event organizer too.
He and Sondra own a 50-acre farm in the Patsy area, and they host music festival sand offer camping and Jeep Jamborees for folks exploring the area.
“Every accomplishment begins with a decision to try.”
In addition, Michael Stallings has earned the nickname “Moonshine Mike.”
In 2006, he learned how to make moonshine from some locals, and he began to study the craft in depth.
He learned about the history and culture of it, how mountain folk couldn’t sell their corn crops at market, or couldn’t get a fair price. They began to turn corn and apples, etc., into mash.
This led to him teaching moonshine workshops at music and local festivals.
“I also sing a lot of old Moonshine music,” said Stallings.
He builds model copper stills for display and larger serviceable distilling equipment for distilleries.
Stalling says it is his goal to have his own legal moonshine label within the year. Although it’s too early to talk much about it, the wheels have already started turning on the process.
Even though Stallings has picked up a lot of traditional mountain skills over the past few decades, he didn’t become acquainted with Kentucky until about 1998.
He was living in Georgia on a communal farm when one of his friends inherited a piece of property in Kentucky, and he accompanied him here to check it out.
One night, in the middle of the night, they’d just driven into Stanton. Their vehicle was overheating and they pulled into a gas station/car wash.
The roads were lined up with people having a good time. Turns out, the Kentucky Wildcats had just won the NCAA title, and people were celebrating.
That memory stuck with Stallings, who went home to Indiana for a few months to help his grandmother after his grandfather died.
Stallings said that the hills of Kentucky “kinda haunted my memory,” and he eventually came back.
For about a year, he lived in a teepee in a pasture across from where he lives now. The pasture was also populated with two horses, Booger and Cracker, who would often awaken him in the mornings by poking their heads in the tent and snorting.
Mike and Sondra met around 2010, and they eventually ended up getting married. They lived on Red Lick for a while, then at Furnace Junction. When the opportunity arose for them to buy the property at Patsy, they jumped at the chance.
“Estill County has been so kind to me over the years,” said Stallings. “I have never seen such a close-knit community. Everyone knows one another, helps one another, and really cares.”
That’s saying something, because Mike has traveled a lot of places over the course of his life. For about three years, he hitchhiked around the United States.
His stepdad worked as a corrections officer, and they moved around a lot. Mike said he attended at least six schools.
Sondra, on the other hand, says she’s been in Estill County all her life. You get the impression that she is her husband’s biggest fan and supporter.
Mike comes by his talents honestly. His mother was an artist, and his stepfather was of Native American descent. They’d travel around to craft shows and pow-wows, and he learned to make things with porcupine quills and beads.
The infinitely talented Stallings is also writing a book about his life and travels. He’s about 370 pages in, he says.
But not everything comes easy to Mike.
For the past year or so, he’s been in and out of the hospital. He’s had several blood transfusions, and doctors have diagnosed him with an auto-immune disease.
Despite that, Mike stays positive, according to Sondra.
“He’s the one joking and carrying on with the nurses,” she said.
Mike is active in the community, too. He’s a Freemason in Estill County, a 15-year member of the Stafford Lodge #562 in the Fitchburg area near Aldersgate and the Furnace. He’s been a Shriner at the Oleika Shrine, and he dedicated six years of his life to serving in the National Guard in Ravenna (Charlie Company, 1/149th), where he was the active duty Supply Sergeant.
“You can do anything you set your mind to,” Stallings said.
“Every accomplishment begins with a decision to try.”