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: April 30th, 2023
Artist | Song Title | Album Title | Record Label |
Billy Strings | Peartree | Me and Dad | Rounder |
Bluegrass Album Band | Don’t This Road Look Rough & Rowdy | Volume 4 | Rounder |
Bill Monroe | Molly and Tenbrooks | Country Classics | Columbia |
Po’ Ramblin’ Boys | Eastbound and Down | (single) | |
Blue Highway | In the Gravel Yard | Lonesome Pine | Rebel |
Tennessee Bluegrass Band | I’m Warming Up to an Old Flame | The Future of the Past | Billy Blue |
Ashby Frank | Make Your Mama Proud | Leaving is Believing | Mountain Home |
Billy Swinson | Lonesome Day | Greener Grass | |
Into the Fog | Back to TN | Runnin’ Blind and Chasin’ Time | Into the Fog |
Church Sisters | Bury Me Beneath the Willow | There’s You | |
Pam Gadd | Bluegrass Survival | (single) | Home Sweet Hgy. |
Lonesome River Band | Hey Day | (same) | Mountain Home |
Billy Swinson | Greener Grass | Greener Grass | |
Blue Highway | On the Roof of the World | (single) | Rounder |
Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road | A Little Bit of Bluegrass | (same) | Pinecastle |
Alecia Nugent | Too Good to Be True | A Little Girl a Big Four Lane | Rounder |
Starlette & Big John | Makin’ Tracks to Macon | Living in the South | Rebel |
Mike Mitchell | Making Hay | Fathers and Sons | Turnberry |
Molly Tuttle | Crooked Tree | (same) | Nonesuch |
Jason Barie | That’s Why You Left Me So Blue | Radioactive | Billy Blue |
Alison Kraus | Gentle River | Too Late to Cry | Rounder |
Terry Baucom | Here in the Country | (same) | Driving Duke |
Joe Mullins | I’ve Been Down That Road | Let Time Ride | Billy Blue |
Doyle Lawson | She’s Walking Through My Memory | Once and For Always | Sugar Hill |
Michael Cleveland | Sunny Days | Lovin’ of the Game | Compass |
Hayde Bluegrass Orchestra | Back Home to Haran | Migrants | Hayde |
Irene Kelley | Come Some Winter Morning | Snow White Memories | IRK |
Bill Monroe | Uncle Pen | In the Pines | MCA |
Authentic Unlimited | Before You Miss Me | Authentic Unlimited | Mountain Home |
Highway 58 | Unfaithful One | Highway 58 Bluegrass | Highway 58 |
Larry Cordle | East Kentucky Blues | (single) | Mighty Cord |
Jerry Douglas/Alison Kraus | I Don’t Believe You’ve Met My Baby | Slide Rule | Rounder |
Larry Sparks | Mama’s Apron Strings | It’s Just Me | Rebel |
Michael Cleveland/Billy Strings | For Your Love | Lovin’ of the Game | Compass |
Tony Rice | Cold on the Shoulder | (same) | Rounder |
Jason Carter | King of the Hill | Lowdown Hoedown | Fiddle Man |
Larry Cordle/Ricky Skaggs | Highway 40 Blues | All Star Duets | Mighty Cord |
Blue Highway | Lonesome State of Mind | (single) | Rounder |
Alan Jackson | Blue Ridge Mountain Song | Bluegrass Album | Universal |
Troublesome Hollow | 5# of Possum | The Possum Tapes | Troublesome Hollow |
The Dillards | Dooley | There is a Time | |
J. D. Crow & New South | Back to the Bar Room | Come On Down to My World | Rounder |
Dan Tyminski | Man of Constant Sorrow | O’Brother, Where Art Thou | Mercury |