Jim Tom Hedrick of “Moonshiners” has died … TMZ has confirmed.
A member of the family of JT’s tells us he handed away Wednesday morning in Robbinsville, NC — though the precise circumstances are unclear. What we do know, per the relative, is that JT had kidney most cancers and was receiving dialysis for a very long time.
We’re instructed Jim was in a nursing house for the final 12 months, and pictures of him in a hospital mattress had been posted in latest months.
An announcement from Sugarlands Distilling Co reads, “Jim Tom devoted a lot of his life to the artwork of moonshining, changing into a legend in Appalachia alongside the best way. Jim Tom’s well-earned fame as some of the expert moonshiners within the South earned him a task on the hit tv program Moonshiners, the place his colourful persona endeared Jim Tom to the hearts of tens of millions.”
SDC goes on to say Jim Tom was one of many veteran moonshiners within the space who embraced them after they opened their doorways … and his stamp of approval went a great distance.
Jim Tom appeared on a number of seasons of the long-running Discovery actuality sequence — which chronicles moonshiners working their unlawful booze biz all all through the Appalachian mountains. He joined throughout Season 2 in 2012 and caught round by 2017.
He was recognized for his distinctive persona and manners of talking — to not point out his storytelling and, after all, his pristine ability at making selfmade alcohol out in nature.
He was 82.
RIP