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 2nd, 2023
Artist | Song Title | Album Title | Record Label |
Ben Green | God Bless America | United We Stand | Pinecastle |
Flatt & Scruggs | Hot Corn, Cold Corn | Bear Family 1959-63 | Bear Family |
Bluegrass Album Band | Toy Heart | Volume One | Rounder |
Mike Mitchell | Love of the Mountains | Fathers and Sons | Turnberry |
Jim & Jesse | Are You Missing Me | 50 Years of Bluegrass | CMH |
Larry Sparks | Mama’s Apron Strings | It’s Just Me | Rebel |
Osborne Brothers | Rocky Top | High Lonesome | CMH |
Pam Gadd | Bluegrass Survival | (single) | Home Sweet Hgy. |
Ashby Frank | Make Your Mama Proud | Leaving is Believing | Mountain Home |
Joe Mullins | Bacon in My Beans | ||
Karen Smedley | No Known Cure | (same) | Karen Smedley |
Lonesome Standard Time | Lower on the Hog | Lonesome Standard Time | Sugar Hill |
Jim & Jesse | Diesel on My Tail | 50 Years of Bluegrass | CMH |
Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road | A Little Bit of Bluegrass | (same) | Pinecastle |
Osborne Brothers | Ruby | High Lonesome | CMH |
Jason Barie | That’s Why You Left Me So Blue | Radioactive | Billy Blue |
Jim & Jesse | Heading West | Music Among Friends | Rounder |
Larry Cordle | Lost as a Ball in High Weeds | Songs From the Workbench | Mighty Cord |
Hammertowne | Next to Nothing | (same) | |
Starlette & Big John | Makin’ Tracks to Macon | Living in the South | Rebel |
Nu-Blu | A Little Good News Today | ||
Po Ramblin’ Boys | Eastbound and Down | (single) | Smithsonian |
Osborne Brothers | Windy City | Once More | Sugar Hill |
Irene Kelley/Kruger Brothers | Come Some Winter Morning | Snow White Memories | IRK |
Jim & Jesse | Slewfoot | 50 Years of Bluegrass | CMH |
Blue Highway | Lonesome State of Mind | (single) | Rounder |
Osborne Brothers | Listening to the Rain | Once More | Sugar Hill |
Jason Carter | King of the Hill | Lowdown Hoedown | Fiddle Man |
Osborne Brothers | Fastest Grass Alive | Once More | Sugar Hill |
Joe Mullins | Black & White | Let Time Ride | Billy Blue |
Jim & Jesse | Paradise | Music Among Friends | Rounder |
Leftover Salmon/Billy Strings | Nashville Skyline Rag | Grass Roots | |
Osborne Brothers | Cuckoo | Bluegrass Reunion Style | Al Batten |
Michael Cleveland/Billy Strings | For Your Love | Lovin’ of the Game | Compass |
Daren Nicholson | Like My Dog | Things Left Undone | CD Baby |
Osborne Brothers | Big Spike Hammer | Once More | Sugar Hill |
Special Consensus | Alberta Bound | Great Blue North | Compass |
Jim & Jesse | Flower in the Desert | Music Among Friends | Rounder |
Darin & Brooke Aldridge | Jordan | (single) | Billy Blue |
Osborne Brothers | Beneath Still Waters | Once More | Sugar Hill |
Tony Rice | Early Morning Rain | Tony Rice Sings Gordon Lightfoot | Rounder |
Osborne Brothers | Once More | Once More | Sugar Hill |
Joe Mulins | I’ve Been Down That Road | Let Time Ride | Billy Blue |
Kristy Cox | KY’s Never Been This Far From TN | Shades of Blue | Billy Blue |
Alison Kraus | Steel Rails | I’ve Got That Old Feeling | Rounder |
Billy Swinson | Lonesome Day | Greener Grass | |
Cockman Family | Patriotic Medley | All About Love | Cockman Family |