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 8th, 2024
Artist | Song Title | Album Title | Record Label |
Bluegrass 95 | Whiskey Before Breakfast | Bluegrass 95 | Pinecastle |
Ralph Stanley | Christmas Times A’ Coming | Christmas with Ralph Stanley | Rebel |
Flatt & Scruggs | Your Love is Like a Flower | Foggy Mountain Jamboree | County |
Grass Cats | Favorite Christmas Memories | Christmas in Carolina | Blue Circle |
Becky Buller | Jubilee | (same) | Dark Shadow |
Nu-Blu | Christmas in Dixie | Christmas in Carolina | Blue Circle |
Tony Trischka/Billy Strings | Brown’s Ferry Blues | Earl Jam | Down the Road |
Authentic Unlimited | Big Wheels | So Much for Forever | Billy Blue |
Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road | Christmas in Carolina | (same) | Blue Circle |
Constant Change | Christmas Time Back Home | Christmas in Carolina | Blue Circle |
Junior Sisk | A Man Like Me | If There’s a Will, There’s a Way | Mountain Fever |
Patty Loveless | Santa Train | Blue Grass, White Snow | MCA |
Jerry Douglas | Away in a Manger | Sugar Plums | Sugar Hill |
Tommy Edwards | The Christmas Letter | The Christmas Letter | Salisbury Street |
Kenny & Amanda Smith | A Good Thing Gone Wrong | (single) | Farm Boy |
Williamson Branch | Southern Nights | (single) | Pinecastle |
Nixon, Blevins & Gage | What Chile is This/God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen | Picking on Christmas | Clover |
Sideline | I’m in Tennessee | (single) | Mountain Home |
Lost & Found | Christmas in Virginia | Christmas in the Mountains | |
Amanda Cooke | Last Road Going Home | Restless Soul | Mountain Fever |
Patty Loveless | Blue Grass, White Snow | (same) | MCA |
Tim O’Brien | Christ Was Born in Bethlehem | Sugar Plums | Sugar Hill |
Dan Tyminski | Whiskey Drinking Man | Live From the Ryman | 8 Track |
Nixon, Blevins & Gage | Beautiful Star of Bethlehem | Picking on Christmas | Cover |
Special Consensus | Snow Bird | Blue North | Compass |
Al Batten | Christmas in Our Hometown | Christmas in Carolina | Blue Circle |
Darin & Brooke Aldridge/Vince Gill | A Million Years | Talk of the Town | Billy Blue |
Sweet Potato Pie | Mary’s Kiss | Christmas in Carolina | Blue Circle |
Tim O’Brien | Last Train from Poor Valley | Tim O’Brien Band | |
Tony Rice | Carolina Star | Tony Rice Plays & Sings Bluegrass | Roundre |
Kicking Grass Band | Meaning of Christmas | Christmas in Carolina | Blue Circle |
Seldom Scene | Like I Used to Do | Long Time, Seldom Scene | Rebel |
Country Gentlemen | White Christmas | Pinecastle Christmas | Pinecasstle |
Don Rigsby | These Gold Fields of Barley | Hillbilly Heartaches | Rebel |
Special Consensus | Go Tell It On the Mountain | Christmas in the Smokies | |
Billy Strings | Cabin Song | Highway Prayer | Rounder |
Darin & Brooke Aldlridge | Do You Hear What I Hear | ||
Doyle Lawson | Christmas Medley | Sugar Plums | Sugar Hill |