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: September 1st, 2024
Artist | Song Title | Album Title | Record Label |
Tom Adams | Fireball Mail | Right Hand | Rounder |
Flatt & Scruggs | Down the Road | Complete Mercury Sessions 1949 | Mercury |
Johnson Mountain Boys | Dream of a Miner’s Chile | Live at the Old School House | Rounder |
Bluegrass Album Band | The Old Hometown | Volume 4 | Rounder |
Steeldrivers | Drinking Dark Whiskey | The Steeldrivers | Rounder |
Ronnie Bowman | Cold Virginia Night | (same) | Sugar Hill |
Lonesome River Band | Blues of the Night | The Winning Hand | Mountain Home |
IIIrd Tyme Out | Makes Me Wonder If I Ever Said Goodbye | It’s About Tyme | |
Seldom Scene | Those Memories | 15th Anniversary Celebration | Rebel |
Authentic Unlimited | Big Wheels | So Much for Forever | Billy Blue |
Sideline | I’m In Tennessee | (single) | Mountain Home |
Sand Mountain | Fastest Rabbit Dog in Clark County | Molly Rose | |
Joe Mullins | One Breath Away | (single) | |
Junior Sisk | Long Hard Road | Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way | Mountain Fever |
Bronwyn Keith-Hynes | Will You Ever Be Mine | I Built a World | Sugar Petunia |
Virgina Ramblers | Daddy’s Grave | The Virginia Ramblers | Hay Holler |
Kenny & Amanda Smith | Good Thing Gone Wrong | (single) | Farm Booy |
Lorraine Jorday & Carolina Road | That’s Ky | Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road | Pinecastle |
Interview with Nu Blu | |||
Nu Blu | Nobody’s Business But the Moon | Where You’ve Been | Turnberry |
Nu Blu | A Little Good News Today | All the Way | Rural Rhythm |
Nu Blu | The Will | Where You’ve Been | Turnberry |
Lost & Found | Sweet Rosy By the River | Classic Bluegrass | Rebel |
Grascals | Just Let Me Know | (single) | Mountain Home |
Lou Reid | Mom’s Old Picture Book | When It Rains | Sugar Hill |
IIIrd Tyme Out | Bluegrass | (single) | |
Po’ Ramblin’ Boys | Wanderers Like Me | (single) | Smithsonian |
Darin & Brooke Aldridge | The Price I Pay | Talk of the Town | Billy Blue |
Billy Strings | John Deere Tractor | Me & Dad | Rounder |
Tony Trischka/Billy Strings | Brown’s Ferry Blues | (single) | Down the Road |
Mike Mitchell | Uncommon Man | Fathers and Sons | |
Country Gentlemen | Secret of the Waterfall | Award Winning Country Gentlemen | Rebel |
Becky Buller | Jubilee | (same) | Dark Shadow |
Balsam Range | Moon Over Memphis | (same) | Mountain Home |
Steve Martin/Alison Brown | Blue Grass Radio | Alison Brown on Banjo | Compass |
IIIrd Tyme Out | Heading East to West Virginia | (single) | |
Grascals | I Remember the Year that Clayton Delaney Died | ||
Al Batten | I Can’t Quit Cigarettes | Instrumentals & Insanities | Al Batten |
Alecia Nugent | Paper & Pen | Alecia Nugent | Rounder |
Darrell Webb | More Life | (single) | |
Grass Cats | Carolina Blue | New Time | |
Doyle Lawson | Julie Anne | News is Out | Sugar Hill |
Joe Diffie | Somehow Tonight | Homecoming | |
Doc Watson | Tennessee Stud | Will the Circle Be Unbroken |