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: December 18th, 2022
Artist | Song Title | Album Title | Record Label |
Jim Mills | He came from Carolina | Bound to Ride | Sugar Hill |
Longview | Hills and Home | Lessons in Stone | Rounder |
Larry Sparks | Christmas Time’s A-Comin’ | Christmas in the Mountains | Rebel |
Country Gentlemen | Christmas time back home | Christmas in the Mountains | Rebel |
Bluegrass Album Band | Big Black Train | Sweet Sunny South | Rounder |
Scottie Sparks | In my arms instead of my memory | Scottie Sparks | |
Dale Ann Bradley & Steve Gulley | Christmas the Mountain Way | Christmas the Mountain Way | |
Vestal, Benson & Autry | Frosty the Snowman | Christmas in the Smokies | |
Pam Gadd | Bluegrass Survival | Single | |
Osborne Brothers | Arkansas | Once More | Sugar Hill |
The Grass Cats | Favorite Christmas Memories | Christmas in Carolina | |
Patty Loveless | Santa’s Train | Bluegrass & White Snow | |
Patty Loveless | Bluegrass, White Snow | Bluegrass & White Snow | |
Country Gentlemen | The Legend of the Rebel Soldier | The Award-Winning Country Gentlemen | |
Del McCoury | 1952 Vincent Black Lightning | Del and the Boys | |
Cuttin’ Grass | Christmas in the Smokies | ||
Jerry Douglas | Shenandoah Breakdown | Slide Rule | Sugar Hill |
Jim & Jesse | Heading West | Music among friends | Rounder |
Lost & Found | Christmas in Virginia | Christmas in the Mountains | Rebel |
John Starling | Beautiful star of Bethlehem | Sugar Plums | Sugar Hill |
Alan Jackson & Alison Krauss | The Angels Cried | Honky Tonk Christmas | |
Herb Hartley | Silent Night | ||
Flatt & Scruggs | Petticoat Junction | On Foggy Mountain | |
Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs | Foggy Mountain Breakdown | The Complete Mercury Sessions | Mercury |
Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road | Christmas in Carolina | Christmas in Carolina | |
Nixon, Blevins & Gage | What child is this/God rest ye merry… | Pickin’ on Christmas | Clover |
Peter Rowan | Christmas Times A-Comin’ | Sugar Plums | Sugar Hill |
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver | Carolina in the Pines | Once and for always | Sugar Hill |
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver | Traveling down the blue road | Once and for always | Sugar Hill |
Audie Blaylock | Joy to the World | Christmas the Mountain Way | |
Tommy Edwards | The Christmas Letter | The Bluegrass Album | |
Larry Sparks | Blue Christmas | Christmas time back home | Rebel |
The Isaacs | Another soldier down | Eye of the storm | |
Johnson Mountain Boys | Dream of a miner’s child | At the old school house | |
Bill Keith | Sugar Foot Rag | Something, Auld, Something Newgrass, Something Borrowed, Something Bluegrass | |
Alecia Nugent | Hillbilly Goddess | Hillbilly Goddess | Rounder |
Larry Cordle | 67 Chevy Malibu | Took down and put up | |
Larry Cordle | Cherokee Fiddle | Where the trees know my name | |
Al Batten & the Bluegrass Reunion | Christmas in our hometown | Christmas in Carolina | |
Constant Change | Christmas Time Back Home | Christmas in Carolina | |
Sweet Potato Pie | Christmas in Dixie | Home Grown Christmas | |
Sturgill Simpson | All the pretty colors | Cuttin’ Grass Vol 1 | |
Sturgill Simpson | Tennessee | Cuttin’ Grass Vol 2 | |
Tim O’Brien | Making Plans | Sugar Plums | Sugar Hill |
Seldom Scene | Silent Night | Sugar Plums | Sugar Hill |
Doc Watson | Christmas Lullaby | Sugar Plums | Sugar Hill |
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver | Christmas Medley | Sugar Plums | Sugar Hill |
Jerry Douglas | Away in a Manger | Sugar Plums | Sugar Hill |
Joe Mullins | Old Fashion Christmas | Christmas 2022 | |
Darin & Brooke Aldridge | Light of the stable | Christmas 2022 | |
Paul Williams & the Victory Trio | I can’t go home this Christmas | Christmas in the Smokies | |
Phil Ledbetter | Jingle Bells | Christmas in the Smokies |