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: March 12th, 2023
Artist | Song Title | Album Title | Record Label |
Billy Strings | Frosty Morn | Me and Dad | Rounder |
Flatt & Scruggs | Blue Ridge Cabin Home | Foggy Mountain Jamboree | County |
Bill Monroe | In the Pines | In the Pines | MCA |
Bluegrass Album Band | Cora is Gone | Volume 4 | Rounder |
Lonesome River Band | Hey Day | Hey Day | Mountain Home |
James King | A Few Old Memories | Lonesome & Then Some | Rounder |
Ashby Frank | Make Your Mama Proud | Leaving is Believing | Mountain Home |
Blue Highway | On the Roof of the World | (single) | Rounder |
J. D. Crowe & New South | Rock Salt & Nails | J. D. Crow & New South | Rounder |
Billy Strings | Long Journey Home | Me and Dad | Rounder |
Pam Gadd | Bluegrass Survival | (single) | Home Sweet Hgy. |
Tony Rice | I Hope You Have Learned | Manzanita | Rounder |
Tennessee Bluegrass Band | I’m Warming Up to an Old Flame | The Future of the Past | Billy Blue |
Chris Jones | The Price of Falling | (single) | Mountain Home |
Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road | A Little Bit of Bluegrass | (same) | Pinecastle |
Billy Strings | John Deere Tractor | Me and Dad | Rounder |
Molly Tuttle | Dooley’s Farm | Crooked Tree | Nonesuch |
Sturgill Simpson | I Don’t Mind | Cuttin’ Grass | High Top Mtn. |
Peter Rowan | Song That Made Hank WMs. Dance | Calling You From My Mountain | Rebel |
Darren Nicholson | Things Left Undone | Things Left Undone | CD Baby |
Jerry Douglas/Alison Kraus | I Don’t Believe You’ve Met My Baby | Slide Rule | Rounder |
Olivia Jo | Mighty Mississippi | (single) | |
Gentlemen of Bluegrass | Carolina Memories | (same) | |
Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road | Traveling That Highway Home | I Can Go to Them | Pinecastle |
Starlett & Big John | Makin’ Tracks to Macon | Living in the South | Rebel |
Dale Ann Bradley/J. P. Pennington | The Sun is Going to Shine | Kentucky for Me | Pinecastle |
Alison Kraus | I Don’t Know Why | Every Time You Say Goodbye | Rounder |
Authentic Unlimited | Hannah | Authentic Unlimited | Mountain Home |
Terry Baucom | Here in the Country | (same) | Driving Duke |
Irene Kelley/Kruger Brothers | Come Some Winter Morning | Snow White Memories | IRK |
Lou Reid | Smokey Mountain Rain | (single) | |
Jason Barie | That’s Why You Left Me So Blue | (single) | Billy Blue |
Darrell Webb | More Life | Dream Big | Pinecastle |
Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road | Carolina Pig Pickin’ Time | A Little Bit of Bluegrass | Pinecastle |
Joe Mullins | Big City | (single) | Billy Blue |
Damascus Ridge | More Than a Name on a Wall | One & Only | Damascus Ridge |
Fireside Collective | Blue is My Condition | Across the Divide | Mountain Home |
Michael Cleveland/Vince Gill | I Wish I Knew Now, What I Knew Then | Lovin’ of the Game | Compass |
Osborne Brothers | Listening to the Rain | Once More | Sugar Hill |
Nashville Bluegrass Band | Blackbirds & the Crows | Unleashed | Sugar Hill |
New Vintage | Gravestone | No Time for the Blues | Pinecastle |