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: June 9th, 2024
Artist | Song Title | Album Title | Record Label |
Tom Adams | Fireball Mail | Right Hand Man | |
Flatt &Scruggs | You Are My Flower | On Foggy Mountain | |
Ralph Stanley | The Fields Have Turned Brown | High Lonesome | CMH |
Rarely Herd | Simon Crutchfield’s Grave | Midnight Loneliness | Rarely Herd |
Joe Mullins | Readin’, Ritin’ and Route 23 | Industrial Strength Bluegrass | Smithsonian |
Becky Buller | Jubilee | (single) | Dark Shadows |
Nu-Blu | The Will | (single) | Turnberry |
IIIrd Tyme Out | Heading East to WV | (single) | |
Dave Adkins | What I’m For | (same) | Billy Blue |
Caroline Owens | He Loves Me Not | (single) | Skyline |
Daniel Grindstaff | Forever Young | Heroes and Friends | Mountain Home |
Olivia Jo | Mighty Mississippi | (single) | |
Traditional Grass | Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar | Blues Are Still the Blues | |
Junior Sisk | Long Hard Road | Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way | Mountain Fever |
Bronwyn Keith=-Hynes | Can’t Live Without Love | (single) | Sugar Petunia |
Lonesome River Band | Blues of the Night | (single) | Mountain Home |
Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road | They Call it Bluegrass | Bill Monroe’s Ol Mandolin | Pinecastle |
Tennessee Bluegrass Band | Coming Down the Line | (single) | Billy Blue |
Nu-Blu | A Little Good News Today | All the Way | Rural Rhythm |
Tray Wellington | Georgia Turnaround | Black Banjo | Mountain Home |
Sideline | Miss Charlotte’s Game | Ups & Downs & No Name Towns | Mountain Home |
Rhonda Vincent | Please, Mr. Please | (single) | Upper Mgmt. |
Sister Sadie | Willow | No Fear | Mountain Home |
Billy Strings | Little White Church | Me & Dad | Rounder |
Blue Highway | North Side | (single) | Down the Road |
Authentic Unlimited | Big Wheels | So Much For Love | Billy Blue |
Lonesome Standard Time | Bandit | Mighty Lonesome | Sugar Hill |
Darin & Brooke Aldridge | The Price I Pay | Talk of the Town | Billy Blue |
Terry Baucom | Carolina Any Day | 4th and Goal | |
Tony Trischka/Billy Strings | Brown’s Ferry Blues | (single) | Down the Road |
Becky Buller/Jim Lauderdale | Wall Around Your Heart | (single) | Dark Shadow |
Sturgill Simpson | Life Ain’t Fair and the World is Mean | Cuttin’ Grass | High Top Mtn. |
Stetson Family | Billy | True North | |
Benson | Lay ‘em Down | (single) | Mountain Home |
Snyder Family Band | Blue Ridge Mountain Sky | The Life We Know | Mountain Home |
Larry Stephenson | Knoxville Girl | On Fire | Pinecastle |
Nixon, Blevins & Gage | Man of Constant Sorrow | Pickin’ With Friends | Clover |
Vince Gill | Lonesome River | Here Today |