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: May 12th, 2024
Artist | Song Title | Album Title | Record Label |
Jim Mills | Groundhog | Bound to Ride | Sugar Hill |
Cox Family | Everybody’s Reaching Out for Someone | (same) | Rounder |
Bluegrass Album Band | On My Way Back to the Old Home | Volume One | Rounder |
Jim Mills | Sledd Ride | My Dixie Home | Sugar Hill |
Alison Kraus | Mama’s Hand | (same) | Rounder |
Rambler’s Choice | Mama’s Flowers | Mama’s Hand | Rounder |
IIIrd Tyme Out | Mama Tried | Bluegrassed | Cracker Barrell |
IIIrd Tyme Out | Heading East to WV | (single) | |
Lonesome Standard Time | Mother, Queen of My Heart | (same) | |
Lou Reid | Mom’s Old Picture Book | When It Rains | Sugar Hill |
Ashby Frank | Make Your Mama Proud | Leaving is Believing | Mountain Home |
Linda Barker | Mama’s Rocking Chair | I Could Cry | Mastershield |
Larry Sparks | Mama’s Apron Strings | Just Me | Rebel |
Larry Cordle | Mama, Don’t Forget to Pray for Me | All-Star Duets | Larry Cordle |
Bronwyn Keith=-Hynes | Can’t Live Without Love | (single) | Sugar Petunia |
Merle Haggard | Mama’s Hungry Eyes | The Bluegrass Sessions | |
Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road | Mama’s Cross | A Little Bit of Bluegrass | Pinecastle |
Seldom Scene | The Sweetest Gift | Mother, Queen of My Heart | |
Lonesome Standard Time | Thank God for Mothers | Mother, Queen of My Heart | |
Chris Jones | Pages in Your Hand | (same) | Mountain Home |
Don Rigsby | If I Had a Mother | Mother, Queen of My Heart | |
Larry Sparks | Mom and Dad Waltz | Mother, Queen of My Heart | |
Becky Buller | Jubilee | (single) | Dark Shadow |
Rhonda Vincene | Medals for Mother | Mama’s Hand | Rounder |
Ralph Stanley | Mother No Longer Waits for Me | Classic Stanley | Rebel |
Ricky Skaggs | Mother’s Only Sleeping | History of the Future | Skaggs |
Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road | Mama, Can’t You Hear That Train A’Coming | Bill Monroes’ Ol Mandolin | Pinecastle |
James King/Dudley Connell | Memories of Mother | Life Goes On | |
Hank Bowman | Mother’s Message | Lonely | Hank Bowman |
Ricky Chason | I Heard My Mother Call My Name | ||
Rarely Herd | Last Time | Midnight Loneliness | Rarely Herd |
Billy Strings | I Heard My Mother Weeping | Me and Dad | Rounder |
Alecia Nugent | A Letter from Home | A Little Girl, A Big Four Lane | Rounder |
Larry Sparks | Mama | Almost Home | Rebel |
Detour | A Better Place | (same) | Mountain Fever |
James King | Bed By the Window | (same) | Rounder |
Gary Ferguson | The Hand That Rocks the Cradle | I’m Really Leaving | Patuxent |
New Tradition | Prodigal Son | Stand and Be Counted | Crossroads |