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: December 17th, 2023
Artist | Song Title | Album Title | Record Label |
Bluegrass 95 | Whiskey Before Breakfast | Bluegrass 95 | Pinecastle |
Ralph Stanley | Christmas Time’s A’Coming | Ralph Stanley Christmas | Rebel |
Grass Cats | Favorite Christmas Memories | Christmas in Carolina | Blue Circle |
Nixon, Blevins & Gage | What Child is This/God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen | Picking on Christmas | Clover |
Flatt & Scruggs | Your Love is Like a Flower | Foggy Mountain Jamboree | County |
Nu-Blu | Christmas in Dixie | Christmas in Carolina | Blue Circle |
Constant Change | Christmas Time Back Home | Christmas in Carolina | Blue Circle |
Patty Loveless | Santa Train | Blue Grass White Snow | |
Balsam Range | What the Years Do | (single) | Mountain Home |
Jerry Douglas | Away in a Manger | Sugar Plums | Sugar Hill |
Tommy Edwards | Christmas Letter | The Christmas Album | Salisbury Street |
Junior Sisk | Long Hard Road | (singles) | Mountain Fever |
Rhonda Vincent | City of New Orleans | (single) | Upper Mgmt. |
Dan Tyminski | Hey Brother | God Fearing Heathen | 8 Track |
Starlette & Big John | Making Tracks to Macon | Living in the South | Rebel |
Nixon, Blevins & Gage | Beautiful Star of Bethlehem | Christmas in Carolina | Blue Circle |
Nu-Blu | The Will | (single) | Turnberry |
Lost & Found | Christmas in Virginia | (same) | Rebel |
Patty Loveless | Blue Grass White Snow | (same) | |
Tim and Mollie O’Brien | Christ Was Born in Bethlehem | Sugar Plums | Sugar Hill |
Chris Jones | Pages in Your Hand | (same) | Mountain Home |
Joe Mullins | Black & White | Let Time Ride | Billy Blue |
Billy Strings | John Deere Tractor | Me & Dad | Rounder |
Authentic Unlimited | Fall in Tennessee | (single) | Billy Blue |
Al Batten | Christmas in Our Hometown | Christmas in Carolina | Blue Circle |
Sweet Potato Pie | Mary’s Kiss | Christmas in Carolina | Blue Circle |
Kicking Grass Band | Meaning of Christmas | Christmas in Carolina | Blue Circle |
Donna Ulisse | Where the Mountain Lillies Grow | (single) | Billy Blue |
Special Consensus | Alberta Bound | Great Blue North | Compass |
Bobby Osborne | Too Old to Die Young | (single) | |
Daniel Grindstaff | Forever Young | (single) | Bonfire |
VW Boys | Five Pounds of Possum | The Possum Tapes | Troublesome Hollow |
Tony Rice | Carolina Star | Tony Rice Plays &Sings Bluegrass | Rounder |
Special Consensus | Snowbird | Great Blue North | Compass |
Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road | Carolina Pig Picking Time | A Little Bit of Bluegrass | Pinecastle |
Terry Baucom | Carolina Any Day | ||
Country Gentlemen | White Christmas | Pinecastle Christmas Gathering | Pinecasstle |
Darin & Brooke Aldridge | Do You Hear What I Hear | Hometown Holiday | Billy Blue |
Longview | I’ve Never Been So Lonesome | Longview | Rounder |
Doyle Lawson | Christmas Medley | Sugar Plums | Sugar Hill |
Nu-Blu | A Little Good New Today | All the Way | Rural Rhythm |
Seldom Scene | Silent Night | Sugar Plums | Sugar Hill |