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 5th, 2023
Artist | Song Title | Album Title | Record Label |
Williamson Branch | Jerusalem Ridge | Free | |
Bluegrass Album Band | The Old Home Town | Vol. 4 | Rounder |
Flatt & Scruggs | Some Old Day | Foggy Mountain Jamboree | County |
Ricky Skaggs | Walls of Time | Can’t You Hear Me Calling | Skaggs |
Larry Sparks | Mama/s Apron Strings | It’s Just Me | Rebel |
Blue Highway | Tears Fell on MO | Marbletown | Rounder |
Blue Mafia | Say Won’t You Be Mine | Hanging Tree | Pinecastle |
Sideline | Colors and Crossroads | (same) | Mountain Home |
Blue Highway | Lonesome State of Mind | (single) | Rounder |
Mike Mitchell | Love of the Mountains | Fathers and Sons | Turnberry |
Michael Cleveland/Billy Stringsi | For Your Love | Lovin’ of the Game | Compass |
Authentic Unlimited | Long Gone | Authentic Unlimited | Mountain Home |
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 |
Grass Cat | Copperhead Road | 9 Lives and More | New Time |
Becky Buller/Jim Lauderdale | Wall Around Your Heart | (single) | Dark Shadow |
Nu-Blu | The Will | (single) | Turnberry |
Jordan | Darin & Brooke Aldridge | (single) | Billy Blue |
Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road | Just an Old Penny | A Little Bit of Bluegrass | Pinecasstle |
Joe Mullins | Black & White | Let Time Ride | Billy Blue |
Ralph Stanley | Clinch Mountain Backstep | Classic Bluegrass | Rebel |
Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road | A Little Bit of Bluegrass | (same) | Pinecastle |
J. D. Crowe & New South | 10 Degrees and Getting Colder | J. D.Crowe & New South | Rounder |
James King | Bed By the Window | (same) | Rounder |
Danny Burns | Living in the Promised Land | Promised Land | |
Rex Williams | Rose in Paradise | Live and A. M. Fountain | Untraveled Road |
Special Consensus | Alberta Bound | Great Blue North | Compass |
Molly Tuttle | El Dorado | City of Gold | Nonesuch |
Daniel Grindstaff | Forever Young | (single) | Bonfire |
Richard Bennett | Last Train From Poor Valley | (same) | |
Lonesome River Band | She Don’t Know I’m Alive | (single) | Mountain Home |
Carrie Hassler | She’s a Stranger in His Mind | CHHR2 | Rural Rhythm |
Rhonda Vincent | City of New Orleans | (single) | Upper Mgmt. |
Billy Strings | John Deere Tractor | Me & Dad | Rounder |
Caroline | No More Blue Moons in KY | Heartbreak Train | Skyline |
Hayde Bluegrass Orchestra | Going Back to Harlan | Migrants | Hayde |
Larry Cordle | Murder of Music Row | (same) | |
Po’ Ramblin’ Boys | Eastbound and Down | (single) | Smithsonian |