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 9th, 2023
Artist | Song Title | Album Title | Record Label |
Bluegrass 95 | Whiskey Before Breakfast | Bluegrass 95 | Pinecastle |
Flatt & Scruggs | Down the Road | Bear Family 1959-1963 | Bear Family |
Bill Monroe | I’m Going Back to Old Kentucky | Bill Monroe | Columbia |
J. D. Crow & New South | Rock Salt & Nails | J. D. Crowe & New South | Rounder |
Peter Rowan | The Song That Made Hank Wms Dance | Calling You From My Mountalin | Rebel |
Doc Watson | Riding on That Midnight Train | (same) | Sugar Hill |
Balsam Range | What the Years Do | (single) | Mountain Home |
Chris Jones | Ribbon Of Darkness | Lost Souls & Free Spirits | Mountain Home |
3 Fox Drive | This Little House of Mine | Listen to the Music | |
Starlette & Big John | Making Tracks to Macon | Living in the South | Rebel |
Pam Gadd | Bluegrass Survival | (single) | Home Sweet Hgy. |
Junior Sisk | I’m Chasing Old Memories Down | (single) | Mountain Fever |
Sideline | Return to Windy Mountain | Breaks to the Edge | Mountain Home |
Michael Cleveland | For Your Love | Lovin’ of the Game | Compass |
Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road | A Little Bit of Bluegrass | (same) | Pinecastle |
Al Batten | Redneck Love Song | Instrumentals & Insanities | Al Batten |
Pam Gadd | Inch by Inch | (single) | Home Sweet Hgly |
Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road | Just An Old Penny | A Little Bit of Bluegrass | Pinecastle |
Lou Reid | Red White & Blue | When it Rains | Sugar Hill |
Terry Baucom | Here in the Country | (same) | Driving Duke |
Casey Penn | We Go Together (Like a Guitar & a Fiddle) | One Step Away | Mountain Fever |
IIIrd Tyme Out | Raining in LA | Cream of the Crop | Rounder |
Joe Mullins | I’ve Been Down That Road | Let Time Ride | Billy Blue |
Don Rigsby | Ravishing Ruby | For the Long Haul | |
Po’ Ramblin’ Boys | Eastbound and Down | Never Slow Down | Smithsonian |
Blue Highway | Lonesome State of Mind | (single) | Rounder |
Clyde Mattocks | Rebecca | Hugging the Hound | Clyde Mattocks |
Irene Kelley/Kruger Brothers | Come Some Winter Morning | Snow White Memories | IRK |
Michael Cleveland | Sunny Days (Are Coming Once Again) | Lovin’ of the Game | Compass |
Ronnie Bowman | Cold Virginia Night | (same) | Sugar Hill |
Mick Mitchell | Making Hay | (single) | Turnberry |
Hot Rize | Coleen Malone | Choice Picks | IBMA |
Sister Sadie | Diane | (single) | Mountain Home |
Grass Cats | Copperhead Road | 9 Lives and More | New Time |
Hammertown | Nest to Nothing | Pictures | Pinecastle |
James King | A Few Old Memories | Lonesome & Then Some | Rounder |
Doyle Lawson | Walking Through My Memories | Once More/News is Out | Sugar Hill |
Billy Strings | I Haven’t Seen Mother in Years | Me & Dad | Rounder |
Brandon Rickman | I Gave Her a Dog | Young Man, Old Soul | Rural Rhythm |
Cockman Family | Were You there | Dedicated | Cockman Familh |