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: March 16th, 2025
Artist | Song Title | Album Title | Record Label |
J. D. Crowe and (Almost) New South | Fireball | Bluegrass, World’s Greatest Music | Sugar Hill |
Flatt & Scruggs | Some Old Day | Foggy Mountain Jamboree | County |
Tony Rice | Muleskinner Blues | Cold on the Shoulder | Rounder |
Lonesome Rive Band | Game is Over | Carrying the Tradition | |
Jason Carter/Michael Cleveland | Outrun the Rain | (single) | Fiddle Man |
Seldom Scene | Setting Me Up | Change of Scenery | Sugar Hill |
Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road | Homesick for the Blueridge | Bill Monroe’s Ol’ Mandolin | Pinecastle |
Daniel Grindstaff | Looking at the World Thru a Windshield | Heroes and Friends | Bonfire |
Spinney Brothers | My Music Comes From Bill | Tried and True | |
Woody Platt | Toe the Line | Far Away With You | Compass |
Sturgill Simpson | I Don’t Mind | Cuttin’ Grass | High Top Mtn. |
Kody Norris | Auctioneer | (single) | Rebel |
Kicking Grass | Morning Train | Live at the Carolina Theater | |
Unspoken Tradition | I’m In a Hurry | (single) | Mountain Home |
Grascals | Coal Dust Kisses | (single) | Mountain Home |
Kathi Hinton Nixon | Pickin’ With the Boys | (same) | Turquoise |
Caroline Owens | You’re In My Heart | (single) | Billy Blue |
Becky Buller/Molly Tuttle/Sierra Hull | Reach | (single) | Dark Shadow |
Amanda Cooke | Last Road Going Home | (single) | Mountain Fever |
Sideline | I’m in Tennessee | (single) | Mountain Home |
Luke Shamblin | Crime at Quiet Dell | (single) | |
Darin & Brook Aldridge/Vince Gill | A Million Memories | Talk of the Town | Billy Blue |
Alison Krause | Looks Like the End of the Road | (single) | Rounder |
Junior Sisk | Just Load the Wagon | Load the Wagon | Mountain Fever |
Karen Smedley | No Known Cure | (same) | Karen Smedley |
Kenny & Amanda Smith | Last Summer | (single) | Farm Boy |
Rex Wiliams | Small Southern Town | Live at Fountain General Store | Untraveled Road |
Joe Mullins | If I’d a Wrote That Song | Storys We Tell | Billy Blue |
Dale Ann Bradley | Jackson, TN | (single) | Pinecastle |
Grass Cats | I Know It’s Not Me | Desperate Times | New Times |
Alison Brown/Steve Martin/Vince Gill | Wall Guitar | (single) | Compass |
Jimmy Martin | Ocean of Diamonds | You Don’t Know My Mind | |
Molly Tuttle | Into the Wild | (same) | Nonesuch |
Greg Blake | Bluefield Mountain Wind | (single) | Turnberry |
James King | She Took His Breath Away | Bluegrass Storyteller | Rounder |
Nixon Blevins & Gage | Shady Grove | Pickin’ On Doc | Clover |
Old and In the Way | Knockin’ on Your Door | Old and In the Way | Roudner |
Caroline Owens | You’ve Still Got It | (single) | Billy Blue |
Osborne Brothers | Listening to the Rain | Once More | Sugar Hill |
Red Camel Collective | Daughters of the Stars | Red Camel Collective | Pinecastle |
Pam Gadd | Bluegrass Survival | (single) | Pam Gadd |
Peter Rowan | High Lonesome Sound | New Moon Rising | Sugar Hill |