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: September 24th, 2023
Artist | Song Title | Album Title | Record Label |
Flatt & Scruggs | Earl’s Breakdown | Foggy Mountain Jamboree | County |
Bill Monroe | Mighty Dark to Travel | Bluegrass ‘87 | |
Tony Rice Unit | Midnight on the Stormy Deep | Manzanita | Rounder |
Vince Gill/Alison Kraus | High Lonesome Sound | Choice Picks | IBMA |
Larry Sparks | Mama/s Apron Strings | It’s Just Me | Rebel |
Starlette & Big John | Straight 58 | Living in the South | Rebel |
Del McCoury | 1952 Vincent Black Lightning | Del & the Boys | McCoury |
Daren Nicholson | Things Left Undone | (same) | CD Baby |
Blue Highway | Lonesome State of Mind | (single) | Rounder |
Larry Cordle | Cherokee Fiddle | ||
Michael Cleveland/Dan Tyminski | Sunny Days | Lovin’ of the Game | Compass |
Authentic Unlimited | Long Gone | Authentic Unlimited | Mountain Home |
Ashby Frank | Where I’m Bound | Leaving is Believing | Mountain Home |
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 | (single) | Skyline |
Starlette & Big John | Straight 58 | Living in the South | Rebel |
Becky Buller/Jim Lauderdale | Wall Around Your Heart | (single) | Dark Shadow |
The Tuttles | Hickory Wind | The Tuttles | |
Steeldrivers | Blue Side of the Mountan | The Steeldrivers | Rounder |
Molly Tuttle | Crooked Tree | (same) | Nonesuch |
Joe Mullins | Black & White | Let Time Ride | Billy Blue |
Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road | They Call it Bluegrass | Bill Monroe’s Old Mandolin | Pinecastle |
Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road | A Little Bit of Bluegrass | (same) | Pinecastle |
Grass Cats | Johnson’s Love | New Time | |
Po Ramblin’ Boys | Eastbound and Down | (single) | Smithsonian |
Mike Mitchell | Love of the Mountains | Fathers & Sons | Turnberry |
Tray Wellington | Georgia Turnaround | Black Banjo | Mountain Home |
Special Consensus | Snow Bird | Great Blue North | Compass |
Don Rigsby | Those Gold Fields | Hillbilly Heartache | Rebel |
Kruger Brothers | Streamlined Cannonball | Remembering Doc | |
Kruger Brothers/Doc Watson | Shady Grove | Remembering Doc | |
Kody Morris | I Call Her Sunshine | Rhinestone Revival | Rebel |
Tim O’Brien | Last Train From Poor Valley | Tim O’Brien Band | |
Special Consensus | Alberta Bound | Great Blue North | Compass |
Nixon Blevins & Gage | Brown Mountain Lights | Pick Another One Son | Clover |
Doyle Lawson | She’s Walking Through My Memory | Once and For Always/News is Out | Sugar Hill |
Darin & Brooke Aldridge | Grand Old Circle | This Life We’re Living | Billy Blue |