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: August 20th, 2023
Artist | Song Title | Album Title | Record Label |
Alison Brown/Steve Martin | Foggy Morning Breaking | On Banjo | Compass |
Flatt & Scruggs | Some Old Day | Foggy Mountain Jamboree | County |
Bluegrass Album Band | Big Spike Hammer | California Connection | Rounder |
Mike Mitchell | Love of the Mountain | Fathers and Sons | Turnberry |
Larry Sparks | Momma’s Apron Strings | It’s Just Me | Rebel |
Starlette & Big John | Straight 58 | Living in the South | Rebel |
Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road | A Little Bit of Bluegrass | (same) | Pinecastle |
Ashby Frank | Make Your Mama Proud | Leaving is Believing | Mountain Home |
Sturgill Simpson | All Around You | Cuttin’ Grass | High Top Mtn. |
Roxboro Connection | That’s the Sound of a Breaking Heart | Making the Connection | Roxboro |
Osborne Brothers | Kentucky | Once More | Sugar Hill |
Po’ Ramblin’ Boys | Eastbound and Down | (single) | Smithsonian |
Becky Buller/Jim Lauderdale | Wall Around Your Heart | (single) | Dark Shadow |
Sweet Potato Pie | Sweet Blue Eyed Darling | Brand New Day | |
Apple & Setser | It Really Doesn’t Matter Anymore | (single) | |
Balsam Range | Moon Over Memphis | (same) | Mountain Home |
Carson Peters | How Blue | Gotta a Lotta Lonesome | Billy Blue |
Dave Adkins | Bad Moon Rising | (single) | |
Sharp Flatpickers | Arkansas Traveler | Sundrops on the Water | |
Starlette & Big John | Makin’ Tracks to Macon | Living in the South | Rebel |
Blue Highway | Lonesome State of Mind | (single) | Rounder |
Seldon Scene | One Way Rider | Change of Scenery | Sugar Hill |
Donna Ulisse | I’m Fallin’ | (single) | Billy Blue |
Billy Strings | Life to Go | Me & Dad | Rounder |
Sister Sadie | Well | (single) | Mountain Home |
Grass Cats | Mountains, My Baby and Me | (same) | New Time |
Seldom Scene | Body and Soul | Best of the Seldom Scene | Rebel |
Authentic Unlimited | Long Gone | Authentic Unlimited | Billy Blue |
Special Consensus | Snow Bird | Great Blue North | Compass |
Sideline | Crash Course in the Blues | Breaks to the Edge | Mountain Home |
Tray Wellington | Wasted Time | Black Banjo | Mountain Home |
Danny Paisley | What Crosses Your Mind | (single)1 | Pinecastle |
Nixon, Blevins & Gage | Blues, Stay Away From Me | Pickin’ On Doc | Clover |
Nu-Blu | That’s What Makes the Bluegrass Blue | All the Way | Rural Rhythm |
Special Consensus | Alberta Bound | Great Blue North | Compass |
Kristy Cox | The Devil Was an Angel Too | (single) | Billy Blue |
Old & In the Way | Knockin’ on Your Door | Old & In the Way | |
Ralph Stanley/Patty Loveless | Pretty Polly | Clinch Mountain Country | Rebel |
Kristy Cox | Kentucky’s Never Been This Far From TN | Shades of Blue | Billy Blue |
Rickie Simpkins | Ashokan Farewell | Dancing on the Fingerboard | Sugar Hill |
Billy Swinson | Lonesome Day | ||
Nu-Blu | A Little Good News Today | All the Way | Rural Rhythm |
Russell Johnson | Those Old Tarheels | (single) | New Time |
Joe Mullins | Black & White | Let Time Ride | Billy Blue |