Every Sunday evening at 6pm thousands of radios all over Central and eastern North Carolina are tuned to 94.7 QDR for the PineCone Bluegrass Show. Whether at home, at work or riding in their cars, some 4,000,000 listeners per year know that from the opening strains of Earl Scruggs’ “Nashville Blues,” Larry Nixon and Tim Woodall will broadcast three hours of the best in bluegrass, old and new. The program is sponsored by the Piedmont Council of Traditional Music, or PineCone. For more information on the radio show visit pinecone.org.
The show was featured in an article in “Bluegrass Today” …you can read it here.
Meet Larry and Tim
Larry Nixon is from Elkin, North Carolina, near Galax, Virginia, the heart of mountain and traditional music country. When Larry was 12, his grandfather gave him a banjo, and since then Larry has been hooked on music, winning a talent show in the eighth grade. Larry has enjoyed playing all types of music but has returned to his “roots,” the re-creation and preservation of the finger-picking styles of guitar that he first heard in the 1960’s. Larry attended NC State University and is a consulting engineer in Raleigh. He was one of the original directors of PineCone.
Tim Woodall is the elder statesman of local bluegrass group The Grass Cats. Having played banjo for 30 years or so, he also has interest in many other types of music. As a studio musician, Tim has recorded pedal steel, bass, and guitar in addition to banjo. Occasionally he will step out front to sing lead if there are cue cards available, but he is more comfortable singing harmony. Another hobby since the age of 13 is radio broadcasting. He acquired his FCC License in 1967, and his first radio job came along in 1989 with the Pinecone Bluegrass Show.
Weekly Playlist
PineCone Playlist: February 23rd, 2025
Artist | Song Title | Album Title | Record Label |
Jerry Douglas | Ride the Wild Turkey | Slide Rule | Rounder |
The Grascals | Saro Jane | The Grascals | |
J.D. Crowe & the Kentucky Mountain Boys | Will you be satisfied that way | Bluegrass Holiday | |
Kody Norris | The Auctioneer | Single | |
Jason Carter/Michael Cleveland | Outrun the rain | Single | |
James Alan Shelton | Blue in the Blueridge | Blue in the Blueridge | |
Wilson Banko Co. | Lonely as it gets | Lonely as it gets | Pinecastle |
Sister Sadie | All will be well | Single | |
Jason Davis | Bootleg John | Second time around | Pinecastle |
The Osborne Brothers | Big Spike Hammer | Once More | Sugar Hill |
Lonesome River Band | Money in the Bank | Carrying the Tradition | Rebel |
Tony Trishka/Billy Strings | Browns Ferry Blues | Single | |
King James Boys | Ready and Waiting | Single | |
Alison Krauss & Union Station | I don’t know why | Bluegrass Hits | |
Boone Creek | No Mother or Dad | One way Track | Sugar Hill |
Byron Berline & Vince Gill | Rose of Old Kentucky | Fiddle and a song | |
Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs | Sally Ann | Foggy Mountain Banjo | Sony |
Lou Reed | One Track Man | When it Rains | Sugar Hill |
David Grindstaff | Looking at the world through a windshield | Heroes and Friend | |
Larry Cordle | Cherokee Fiddle | Where the trees know my name | |
Seldom Scene | Mean Mother Blues | 20th Anniversary Concert | |
Seldom Scene | In the Midnight Hour | 20th Anniversary Concert | |
Bluegrass Album Band | Some How Tonight | Songs of Flatt & Scruggs | Rounder |
Bluegrass Album Band | Down the Road | Songs of Flatt & Scruggs | Rounder |
The Grass Cats | Old, Old House | 9 Lives and More | New Time |
The Grass Cats | Johnson’s Love | 9 Lives and More | New Time |
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver | Kentucky Song | The Original Band | Sugar Hill |
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver | Don’t cross the river | The Original Band | Sugar Hill |
Clyde Mattocks | Hugging the Hound | Hugging the Hound | |
Clyde Mattocks | Rebecca | Hugging the Hound | |
Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road | A light in the window | Back to my roots | |
Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road | They call it Bluegrass | Bill Monroe’s Ol’ Mandolin | |
Country Gazette | Orange Blossom Special | ||
Country Gentlemen | Country Roads | The Award- Winning Country Gentlemen | |
Nixon, Blevins and Gage | Shady Grove | Pickin’ on Doc | Clover |
Wilson Banjo Co. | If you don’t climb the mountain | Lonely as it gets | Pinecastle |
Soggy Bottom Boys | Man of Constant Sorrow | O’brother, where art thou | |
Lonesome River Band | Cabin of Love | Carrying the Tradition | Rebel |
Lou Reed, Terry Baucom & Carolina | I’m gonna hold to his hand | Carolina Blue | Rebel |
Molly Tuttle | Side Saddle | Crooked Tree | |
Rex Wiseman | I’m ragged but I’m right | Welcome Home | |
Max Wareham | Heartaches | ||
Sam Bush | Radio John | Radio John | |
Tony Rice | The likes of me | Cold on the shoulder | Rounder |
Virginia Squires | Tall Dark Stranger | The Virginia Squires | |
Nashville Bluegrass Band | Eli Renfro | The Boys are back in town | Sugar Hill |
Ricky Skaggs | Road to Spencer | History of the Future | Skaggs |
Mark Newton & Steve Thomas | Old McDonald | Reborn |