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: July 9th, 2023
Artist | Song Title | Album Title | Record Label |
Flatt & Scruggs | Dear Old Dixie | Flatt & Scruggs | |
Country Gentlemen | Secret of the Waterfall | Award Winning Country Gentlemen | Rebel |
Bluegrass Album Band | A Letter From My Darling | Volume Three | Rounder |
Seldom Scene | Breaking New Ground | Change of Scenery | Sugar Hill |
Sarah Evans/Del McCoury Band | Muleskinner Blues | Live at the Grand Ol Opry | |
Swift Creek | Rock Me Grandpa | Winner Winner Chicken Dinner | Swift Creek |
Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road | A Little Bit of Bluegrass | (same) | Pinecastle |
Clair Lynch | Dear Sister | Dear Sister | |
Ashby Frank | Make Your Mama Proud | Leaving is Believing | Mountain Home |
Tony Rice | John Hardy | Cold on the Shoulder | Rounder |
IIIrd Tyme Out | John & Mary | Cream of the Crop | Rounder |
Larry Sparks | Mama’s Apron Strings | It’s Just Me | Rebel |
Lonesome Standard Time | Lower on the Hog | Lonesome Standard Time | Sugar Hill |
Mike Mitchell | Love of the Mountains | Fathers and Sons | Turnberry |
Starlette & Big John | Straight 58 | Living in the South | Rebel |
Jason Barie | That’s Why You Left Me So Blue | Radioactive | Billy Blue |
Grass Cats | Prisoner of Your Love | The Mountains My Baby and Me | New Time |
Authentic Unlimited | Long Gone | (single) | Billy Blue |
Chris Jones | Everybody’s Got a Line | (single) | Mountain Home |
Starlette & Big John | Makin’ Tracks to Macon | Living in the South | Rebel |
Kristy Cox | KY’s Never Been This Far from TN | Shades of Blue | Billy Blue |
Sweet Potato Pie | Sweet Blue Eyed Darling | Brand New Day | Sweet Potato Pie |
Blue Highway | Lonesome State of Mind | (single) | Rounder |
James King | She Took His Breath Away | Bluegrass Storyteller | Rounder |
J. D. Crow & New South | Rose Colored Glasses | Live in Japan | Rounder |
Kathi Hinton Nixon | Picking With the Boys | (same) | Turquoise |
Sister Sadie | Diane | (single) | Mountain Home |
Junior Sisk | Story of the Day That I Died | (same) | Mountain Fever |
Lonesome River Band | Hey Day | (same) | Mountain Home |
Sideline | Miss Charlotte’s Game | Ups, Downs and No Name Towns | Mountain Home |
Joe Mullins | I’ve Been Down That Road | Let Time Ride | Billy Blue |
Snyder Family Band | Blue Ridge Mountain Sky | Life We Know | Mountain Home |
Larry Cordle/Diamond Reo | Mama, Don’t Forget to Pray for Me | All Star Duets | Larry Cordle |
Terry Baucom | Here in the Country | (same) | Driving Duke |
Larry Keith | Daddy Was a Mountain Man | The Old Highway | Regal |
Danny Paisley | What Crosses Your Mind | (single) | Pinecastle |
Billy Strings | John Deere Tractor | Me and Dad | Rounder |
Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road | Carolina Pig Pickin’ Time | A Little Bit of Bluegrass | Pinecastle |
Nixon Blevins & Gage | Blues, Stay Away From Me | Pickin’ On Doc | Clover |
Sturgill Simpson | Long White Line | Cuttin’ Grass | High Top Mtn. |