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: January 8th, 2023
Artist | Song Title | Album Title | Record Label |
Deannie Richardson | Walking in My Sleep | Circle Up | Pinecastle |
Flatt & Scruggs | Wabash Cannonball | On Foggy Mountain | County |
Bluegrass Album Band | Rock Hearts | Sweet Sunny South | Rounder |
Danny Paisley/Dale Anne Bradley | One By One | (single) | Pinecastle |
Donna Ulisse | Living Large in a little Town | Living Large | Billy Blue |
Jeremy Stephens | Could I Knock on Your Door | How I Hear It | Rebel |
Rhonda Vincent | I’d Like to Be a Train | Music is What I See | Upper Mgmt. |
Darin & Brooke Aldridge | Once in a While | This Life We’re Living | Billy Blue |
Lonesome River Band | Mary Ann is a Pistol | Hey Day | Mountain Home |
Tammy Rogers/Thom Jutz | I Surely Will Be Singing | Surely Singing | Mountain Fever |
Junior Sisk | Patches on My Heart | Lost & Alone | Mountain Fever |
Darin & Brooke Aldridge | Grand Ole Circle | This Life We’re Living | Billy Blue |
Rick Faris | Deep River | Next Mountain | Dark Shadow |
Balsam Range | Santa Barbara | Moxie and Mettle | Mountain Home |
Breaking Grass | 100 Degrees in the Shade | Somewhere Beyond | Mountain Fever |
Kenny & Amanda Smith | Everything to Me | (single) | Farm Boy |
Del McCoury | Honky Tonk Nights | Almost Proud | McCoury |
Tim Raybon | Leaving Cleveland | (single) | Pinecastle |
Greg Blake | I’ll Be Loving You | (single) | Turnberry |
Irene Kelley | Wild Mountain Stream | These Hills | IRK |
Grascals | Up All Night, Sleep All Day | Up All Night | Mountain Home |
New Tradition | Prodigal Son | Stand and Be Counted | Crossroads |
Bluegrass Unlimited Top Ten 2022
Joe Mullins | Readin’, Rightin’, Route 23 (10) | Industrial Strength Bluegrass | Smithsonian |
Authentic Unlimited | Before You Miss Me (9) | Authentic Unlimited | Billy Blue |
Billy Strings | Red Daisey (8) | Renewal | Rounder |
Junior Sisk | I Wanna Be Where You Are (7) | Lost and Alone | Mountain Fever |
Daryl Moseley | Transistor Radio (6) | Small Town Dreamer | Pinecastle |
Darin & Brooke Aldridge | Blue Baby Blue (5) | This Life We’re Living | Billy Blue |
Balsam Range | Highway Side (4) | Moxie and Mettle | Mountain Home |
Danny Paisley | Blink of an Eye (3) | Bluegrass Troubadour | Patuxant |
Doyle Lawson | I’ll Take the Lonesome Every Time (2) | Roundtable | Mountain Home |
Laura Orshaw | Hank (1) | Solitary Diamond | Dark Shadow |
Pinecone Bluegrass Top Ten, Most Requested 2022
Swift Creek | Rock Me Grandpa (10) | Winner Winner Chicken Dinner | Swift Creek |
James King | She Took His Breath Away (9) | Bluegrass Storyteller | Rounder |
James King | 30 Years of Farming (8) | (same) | Rounder |
Troublesome Hollow (VW Boys) | Five Pounds of Possum (7) | The Possum Tapes | Troublesome Hollow |
Al Batten | Always Marry an Ugly Girl (6) | Instrumentals & Insanities | Al Batten |
Lonesome River Band | Hey Day (5) | (same) | Mountain Home |
Doyle Lawson | Living Like There’s No Tomorrow (4) | Live in Prague | Mountain Home |
Nashville Bluegrass Band | Blackbirds and the Crows (3) | Unleashed | Sugar Hill |
Volume Five | Thorn Tree Shade (2) | Run | CD Baby |
Larry Cordle | Lost as a Ball in High Weeds (1) | Songs From the Work Bench | Mighty Cord |