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: June 8th, 2025
Artist | Song Title | Album Title | Record Label |
Rice Brothers | Soldiers Joy | The Rice Brothers | Rounder |
Flatt & Scruggs | You Are My Flower | On Foggy Mountain | County |
Tony Rice | Fare Thee Well | Tony Rice | Rounder |
Adam Steffey/Alison Kraus | Warm Kentucky Sunshine | One More for the Road | Organix |
Michael Cleveland/Jason Carter | Outrun the Rain | Carter & Cleveland | Fiddle Man |
Grass Cat | 85 on 85 | The Old School Road | New Time |
Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road | They Call It Bluegrass | Bill Monroe’s Ol Mandolin | Pinecastle |
Starlette & Big John | Makin’ Tracks to Macon | Straight 58 | Rebel |
Amanda Cook | Last Road Going Home | Restless Soul | Mountain Fever |
Woody Platt | Toe the Line | Far Away With You | Compass |
Nu Blu | The Will | Turnberry | |
Dale Anne Bradley | Jackson, TN | (single) | Pinecastle |
Sister Sadie | All Will Be Well | (single) | Pinecastle |
Lonesome Standard Time | Bandit | Mighty Lonesome | |
Larry Keith | Daddy Was a Mountain Man | The Old Highway | Regal |
Po’ Ramblin’ Boys | Wanderers Like Me | (same) | Smithsonian |
Darin & Brooke Aldridge/Vince Gill | A Million Memories | Talk of the Town | Billy Blue |
Becky Buller | Wall Around Your Heart | Muddy Waters | Dark Shadow |
Wade Spencer | A Heart That Will Never Break Again | Grace Covered Tracks | |
Sideline | I’m in Tennessee | (single) | Mountain Home |
Alison Brown/Steve Martin | 5 Days Out2 Days Back | (single) | Compass |
Becky Buller | Reach | (single) | Dark Shadow |
Doyle Lawson | Living Like There’s No Tomorrow | Live In Prague | Mountain Home |
Danny Paisley | Till Lonesome Comes Around | (single) | Pinecastle |
Larry Stephenson | Knoxville Girl | On Fire | Pinecastle |
Lonesome River Band | Stray Dogs and Alley Cats | Window of Time | |
Greg Blake | Bluefield Mountain Wind | (single) | Turnberry |
Balsam Range | Trains I Missed | (same) | Mountain Home |
Bill Monroe | Mighty Dark to Travel | Bluegrass 1987 | MCA |
Blue Highway | Tears on Missouri | Marble Town | |
Asby Frank | Blue Night | (single) | Mountain Home |
Billy Strings | Leaning on a Traveling Song | Highway Prayers | Reprise |
Joe Mullins | Time Adds Up If You’re Lucky | (single) | Billy Blue |
Sweet Potato Pie | Leavin’ Colorado | (single) | |
Karen Smedley | No Known Cure | (same) | Karen Smedley |
Chris Jones | Everybody’s Got a Line | ||
Nixon, Blevins & Gage | Blues, Stay Away From Me | Pickin’ On Doc | Clover |
Jimmy Martin | Freeborn Man | Jimmy Martin’s Greatest Bluegrass Hits |