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: August 18th, 2024
Artist | Song Title | Album Title | Record Label |
Billy Strings | Black Mountain Rag | Billy Strings | Rounder |
Flatt & Scruggs | Salty Dog | 1959-1963 | Bear Family |
Ralph Stanley/Patty Loveless | Pretty Polly | Clinch Mountain Country | Rebel |
Bluegrass Album Band | Down the Road | Songs of Flatt & Scruggs | Rounder |
Cockman Family | 3 O’clock Prayer | Dedicated | Cockman |
New Vintage | Footprints | Sands of Time | Pinecastle |
Nu-Blu | The Will | (single) | Turnberry |
IIIrd Tyme Out | Bluegrass | (single) | |
Dave Adkins | What I’m for | (same) | Billy Blue |
Aaron McDaris | Be Good to My Little Baby Girl | First Time Around | |
Lonesome River Band | Blues of the Night | Winning Hand | Mountain Home |
Grass Cats | The Old School Road | (same) | New Time |
3 Fox Drive | Some Old Sideroad | Listen to the Music | |
Junior Sisk | Long Hard Road | Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way | Mountain Fever |
Bronwyn Keith-Hynes | Can’t Live Without Love | I Built a World | Sugar Petunia |
Big Country | Country Boy, Banjo & Flat Top Guitar | Shackles and Chains | |
Ricky Skaggs | Band Intro for Bobby Hicks | Live at Chaston Music Hall | Skaggs |
Ricky Skaggs | Get Up John (Featuring Bobby Hicks) | Live at Chaston Music Hall | Skaggs |
Bluegrass Album Band | Cheyenne (Featuring Bobby Hicks) | Rounder | |
Ricky Skaggs | Uncle Pen (Featuring Bobby Hicks) | Live at Chaston Music Hall | Skaggs |
Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road | Homesick for the Blue Ridge | A Little Bit of Bluegrass | Pinecastle |
Barry Abernathy | Just Beyond | Blue Collar Gospel | Billy Blue |
Nixon, Blevins & Gage | Just a Bowl of Butterbeans | Pickin’ With Friends | Clover |
Grascals | Just Let Me Know | (single) | Mountain Home |
Mike Miklos | GA on a Fast Train | Pocono Joe | |
Authentic Unlimited | Big Wheels | So Much for Love | Billy Blue |
Po’ Ramblin’ Boys | Wanderers Like Me | (single) | Smithsonian |
Darin & Brooke Aldridge | The Price I Pay | Talk of the Town | Billy Blue |
Mickey Harris | Tractor for Sale | Things That I Like | |
Tony Trischka/Billy Strings | Brown’s Ferry Blues | (single) | Down the Road |
Mike Mitchell | Uncommon Man | Fathers and Sons | |
Sideline | I’m in Tennessee | (single) | Mountain Home |
Becky Buller/Jim Lauderdale | Wall Around Your Heart | (single) | Dark Shadow |
Interview with Alison Brown | |||
Steve Martin/Alison Brown | Blue Grass Radio | Alison Brown on Banjo | Compass |
Alison Brown | Leaving Cottondale | Simple Pleasures | Compass |
Steve Martin/Alison Brown | Foggy Morning Breaking | Alison Brown on Banjo | Compass |
Osborne Brothers | Fastest Grass Alive | Once More | Sugar Hill |
Danny Paisley | Till Lonesome Comes Around | (single) | Pinecastle |
Joe Mullins | If I’d A’ Wrote That Song | Stories We Tell | |
Tom T. Hall | Once Upon a Road | Tom T. Sings Tom T. and Dixie | Blue Circle |
New Time | Cold Iron Door | New Town | Mountain Home |
Daneil Grindstaff | Looking at the World Thru a Windshield | Heroes and Friends | Bonfire |