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: April 7th, 2024
Artist | Song Title | Album Title | Record Label |
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver | Up on the Blueridge | The News is Out | Sugar Hill |
Johnson Mountain Boys | Our Last Goodbye | Blue Diamond | Rounder |
Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out | Hard Rock Mountain Prison | Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out | |
J.D. Crowe & the New South | I’ll stay around | The World’s Greatest Show | Sugar Hill |
Balsam Range | East Virginia Blues | Trains I Missed | |
Country Gentlemen | Secret of the Waterfall | The Award-Winning Country Gentlemen | |
Dailey & Vincent | Bed of Roses | Sings the Statler Brothers | |
Lonesome River Band | When You Go Walking | One Step Forward | Rebel |
Steve Gullie & New Pinnacle | She’s a Taker | Steve Gullie & New Pinnacle | |
Nashville Bluegrass Band | Blue Train | Choice Picks | |
Seldom Scene | Rebels Ye Rest | Different Roads | Rebel |
Starleatte & Big John | Making Tracks to Macon | Living in the South | |
Sister Sadie | Willow | No Fear | |
Rex Wiseman | Put My Little Shoes Away | Welcome Home | |
Ray Edwards | My Name is Jimmy Martin | Portrait of a Bluegrass Songwriter | |
Mark Newton & Steve Thomas | Old McDonald | Reborn | |
Constant Change | A Rose for Marie | Evolving | |
Flatt & Scruggs | Flint Hill Special | Foggy Mountain Jamboree | |
Flatt & Scruggs | My Saro Jane | 1959-1963 | Bear Family |
James Monroe | Love, Please Come Home | Bean Blossom | MCA |
James Monroe | Bonnie | Bean Blossom | MCA |
James King | Echo Mountain | The Bluegrass Storyteller | Rounder |
James King | Crazy Heart | Lonesome and Then Some | |
Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road | Carolina Pig Pickin’ Time | A Little Bit of Bluegrass | Pinecastle |
Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road | Boogie Grass Band | Bill Monroe’s Ol’ Mandolin | Pinecastle |
Terry Baucom | What’ll I Do? | Never Thought of Looking Back | |
Sam Bush | The Ballad of Stringbean & Estelle | Circles Around Me | |
Tony Rice | Hills of Roane County | Tony Rie | Rounder |
Tony Rice | Girl from the North County | Plays and Sings Bluegrass | Rounder |
Lost & Found | Sawmill Road | Down on Sawmill Road | Rebel |
Lost & Found | 14 Carat Mind | It’s About Time | |
John McCuen | Togary Mountain | Will the Circle be Unbroken Vol 1 | |
Alison Krauss & Union Station | Broadway | Now That I’ve Found You | Rounder |
Molly Tuttle | Crooked Tree | Crooked Tree | |
Longview | I’ve Lived A Lot in My Time | Lessons in Stone | Rounder |
Lou Reid | Ain’t It Funny | When It Rains | Sugar Hill |
New Grass Revival | In the Middle of the Night | Best of the New Grass Revival | |
Rhonda Vincent & the Rage | City of New Orleans | Single | |
Larry Cordle | A Visit with an Uncle | Took Down and Put Up | |
Larry Sparks | Heart Trouble | Lonesome and Blue | Rebel |
Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder | Highway 40 Blues | The High Notes | Skaggs |
Larry Stephenson Band | Mule Skinner Blues | 20th Anniversary | Pinecastle |
Jerry Stuart | Rocky Run | Rocky Run | County |
Hammertowne | Emma | Hammertowne | |
David Parmley | More Than I Can Bear | ||
Craig Smith | Curly Headed Woman | Craig Smith | Rounder |