Kreuzberg Museum, on the album Ten American Classics, 2006.Robyn Hitchcock, live at Borders Books, 2004.Gillian Welch and David Rawlings in live concert.Jump, Little Children, on the album Live At The Dock Street Theatre, 2006.Damnations TX on the album "Live Set" recorded in Austin, TX in 1996.Tony Joe White, on the album Tony Joe White, 1971.Bob Dylan, on the album Self Portrait, 1970, and Another Self Portrait, 2013.Chet Atkins, Guitar Country, 1964 and in various live settings.The Country Gentlemen, recorded for Starday Records, 1963.Two Tones (a duet including Gordon Lightfoot), on the album Two Tones at the Village Corner, 1962.Joan Baez, recorded in Joan Baez in Concert, 1962.Enjoyable lyrics and simple melody turned "Copper Kettle" into a popular folk song. The levy provoked the Whiskey Rebellion and generally had a short life, barely lasting until 1803. The line "We ain't paid no whiskey tax since 1792" alludes to an unpopular tax imposed in 1791 by the fledgling U.S. The song praises the good aspects of moonshining as told to the listener by a man whose "daddy made whiskey, and granddaddy did too".
Beddoe says that the song was written by him in 1953 as part of the folk opera Go Lightly, Stranger.
Pete Seeger's account dates the song to 1946, mentioning its probable folk origin, while in a 1962 Time readers column A. "Copper Kettle" (also known as "Get you a Copper Kettle", "In the pale moonlight") is a song composed by Albert Frank Beddoe and made popular by Joan Baez.