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 16th, 2023
Artist | Song Title | Album Title | Record Label |
Tony Rice Unit | Sally Goodin | Unit of Measure | Rounder |
Flatt & Scruggs | Salty Dog | Bear Family 1959-1963 | Bear Family |
Bill Monroe | Can’t You Hear Me Calling | Nine Pound Hammer | Tomato |
Lonesome River Band | Hey Day | (same) | Mountain Home |
Blue Rose | Geraldine and Ruthie Mae | Blue Rose | Sugar Hill |
Casey Penn | We Go Together Like a Guitar & a Fiddle | One Step Away | Mountain Fever |
Joe Mullins | I’ve Been Down That Road | Let Time Ride | Billy Blue |
Blue Mafia | Say Won’t You Be Mine | Hanging Tree | Pinecastle |
Bluegrass Brothers | Old Crooked Road | (same) | Hay Holler |
Starlette & Big John | Making Tracks to Macon | Living in the South | Rebel |
Pam Gadd | Bluegrass Survival | (single) | Home Sweet Hgy. |
Grass Cats | 85 on 85 | The Old School Road | New time |
Billy Swinson | Lonesome Day | Greener Grass | |
Blue Highway | Lonesome State of Mind | (single) | Rounder |
Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road | A Little Bit of Bluegrass | (same) | Pinecastle |
Bluegrass Album Band | The Old KY Shore | Volume V | Rounder |
Pam Gadd | Inch by Inch | (single) | Home Sweet Hgy. |
Sweet Potato Pie | Leaving Colorado | (single) | Sweet Potato Pie |
Sturgill Simpson | Breakers Roar | Cuttin’ Grass | High Top Mtn. |
Terry Baucom | Here in the Country | (same) | Driving Duke |
Sharp Flatpickers | Arkansas Traveler | Sundrops on the Water | Pinecastle |
Apple and Setser | Grandma Danced to the AK Traveler | Apple and Setser | Bell Buckle |
Joe Mullins | I’ve Been Down That Road | Let Time Ride | Billy Blue |
Seldom Scene | Those Memories | 15th Anniversary | Rebel |
Scott Tackett | Miller’s Cave | Looking Back | Kindred |
Larry Sparks | Mama’s Apron Strings | It’s Just Me | Rebel |
Larry Stephenson | Great Speckled Bird | Pull Your Savior In | Whysper Dream |
Darin & Brooke Aldridge | Grand Ole Circle | This Life We’re Livin’ | Billy Blue |
Tony Rice | Green Light on the Southern Line | Night Flyer | Rounder |
Billy Strings | John Deere Tractor | Me and Dad | Rounder |
Danny Paisley | Blink of an Eye | Bluegrass Troubadour | Pinecastle |
Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road | Carolina Pig Pickin’ Time | A Little Bit of Bluegrass | Pinecastle |
Balsam Range | Trains I’ve Missed | (same) | Mountain Home |
Peter Rowan | Trail of Tears | New Moon Rising | Sugar Hill |
Alison Kraus | Blue and Lonesome | Down From the Mountain | Lost Highway |
Grass Towne | Hitchhiking to CA | (same) | Billy Bue |
Nixon, Blevins & Gage | Legend of the Rebel Soldier | Pick Another One Son | Clover |