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: November 19th, 2023
Artist | Song Title | Album Title | Record Label |
John McCuen | Togary Mountain | Will the Circle Be Unbroken | |
Larry Sparks | Tennessee 1949 | Classic Bluegrass | Rebel |
Flatt & Scruggs | Sally Ann | Foggy Mountain Banjo | County |
Tony Rice | This Morning at Nine | Tony Rice Picks & Sings Bluegrass | Rounder |
Larry Sparks | Mama/s Apron Strings | It’s Just Me | Rebel |
Linda Barker | Mama’s Rocking Chair | I Could Cry | Mastershield |
Lonesome River Band | The Crime I Didn’t Do | Talking to Myself | |
Larry Stephenson | The Blues Don’t Care Who’s Got ‘Em | What Really Matters | |
Bobby Osborne | Too Old to Die Young | (single) | |
Mike Mitchell | Love of the Mountains | Fathers and Sons | Turnberry |
Balsam Range | Richest Man | Mettle & Moxie | Mountain Home |
Junior Sisk | Long Hard Road | (singles) | Mountain Fever |
Kathi Hinton Nixon | November Wind | Picking with the Boys | Turquoise |
Dan Tyminski | Hey Brother | God Fearing Heathen | 8 Track |
Starlette & Big John | Making Tracks to Macon | Living in the South | Rebel |
Caroline Owens | Heartbreak Train | (same) | Skyline |
Apple & Setser | It Really Doesn’t Matter Anymore | Apple & Setser | |
Becky Buller/Jim Lauderdale | Wall Around Your Heart | (single) | Dark Shadow |
Nu-Blu | The Will | (single) | Turnberry |
Larry Keith | Green Pastures | Down Here On this Earth | Regal |
Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road | Just an Old Penny | A Little Bit of Bluegrass | Pinecastle |
Joe Mullins | Black & White | Let Time Ride | Billy Blue |
Roxboro Connection | That’s the Sound of a Broken Heart | Making the Connection | |
Balsam Range | Snake Charmer | (single) | Mountain Home |
Williamson Branch | Kentucky Highway | (single) | Pinecastle |
Al Batten | Harold’s Super Service | Instrumentals & Insanities | Al Batten |
Danny Burns | Living in the Promised Land | Promised Land | |
Donna Ullisse | Where the Mountain Lillies Grow | (single) | Billy Blue |
Special Consensus | Alberta Bound | Great Blue North | Compass |
Molly Tuttle | El Dorado | City of Gold | Nonesuch |
Daniel Grindstaff | Forever Young | (single) | Bonfire |
Grass Cats | A Good Way to Get the Blues | (same) | New time |
Longview | High Lonesome | (same) | Rounder |
Special Consensus | Snowbird | Great Blue North | Compass |
Rhonda Vincent | City of New Orleans | (single) | Upper Mgmt. |
Molly Tuttle | Crooked Tree | (same) | Nonesuch |
Into the Fog | Back to TN | Runnin’ Blind and Chasing Time | Into the Fog |
New Tradition | Prodigal Son | Stand and Counted | Crossroads |
Lonesome Rive Band | Stray Dogs & Alley Cats | ||
Nixon Blevins & Gage | Man of Constant Sorrow | Pickin’ With Friends | Clover |