What is the song Copperline by James Taylor about?

Answer 1

James Taylor was born in Boston, MA and grew up in Carrboro, NC, just west of Chapel Hill in the Raleigh-Durham Metro area.Copperline is an area south of Chapel Hill, just outside the town corporation limit through with Morgan Creek flows. Moonshine has historically and to some extent, still is part of Southern culture and lore and this song makes several references to it: Wood smoke, copper kettle, sour mash, copper coil. Copperheads and hog-noses are very common snakes in Virginia, the Carolinas and Tennessee, so it's likely that Taylor would have encountered these as a youngster. In appreciation of the immortilization of the area by way of his music, he bridge over which US Highway 501/15 crosses Morgan Creek near the Copperline community has been designated as James Taylor Bridge.Many references in the song seem to be childhood memories that Taylor has of growing up in the area, and as a result, the song has a very dreamy, nostalgic feel to it.