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: April 27th, 2025
Artist | Song Title | Album Title | Record Label |
Darren Nicholson | Rawhide | Fret a Spell | |
J.D. Crowe & the Kentucky Mountain Boys | Little girl of mine in Tennessee | Bluegrass Holiday | Rebel |
Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder | Highway 40 Blues | The High Notes | Skaggs |
Longview | Hills and Home | Lessons in Stone | Rounder |
Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs | No Mother or Dad | The Complete Mercury Sessions | Mercury |
Craig Smith | Curley Headed Woman | Craig Smith | Rounder |
Alison Krauss & Union Station | Snow | Arcadia | |
Daniel Grindstaff | Looking at the world through a windshield | Heroes and Friends | |
Del McCoury/Nitty Gritty Dirt Band | Love, please come home | Will the Circle be Unbroken Vol 3 | |
Rambler’s Choice | Sounds of the Mountain | Sounds of the Mountain | |
Jason Carter/Michael Cleveland | Outrun the Rain | Single | |
Bluegrass 2022 | EMD | Bluegrass 2022 | Pinecastle |
Sturgill Simpson | All the pretty colors | Cuttin’ Grass | |
Larry Sparks | Little white frame church | I just want to thank you | Rebel |
Sister Sadie | All will be well | Single | |
Alan Munde | Hot Burrito Breakdown | Festival Favorites | |
Constant Change | The Rabbit Song | Evolving | |
Red Camel Collection | Last time I saw him | Single | |
Jimmy Martin | Drink up and go home | Fifty Golden Years of Bluegrass | |
Jim Hurst | Oh, Lonesome me | From the ground up | |
Larry Cordle | Yardbird | Tales from East Kentucky | |
Larry Cordle | A visit with and uncle | Took down and put up | |
Vince Gill | Cold gray light of gone | Little Brother | MCA |
Vince Gill | Give me the highway | Little Brother | MCA |
Tony Trishka/Billy Strings | Seven weeks in county | Single | |
Sowell Family Pickers | Three wooden crosses | Trust in the Lord | |
Rickie Simpkins | Dusty Miller | Dancing on the fingerboard | |
Lost and Found | 14 Carat Mind | It’s about time | Rebel |
Lost and Found | If today was the last day | Love Lost and Found | Rebel |
Seldom Scene | Rebel ye rest | Different Roads | Rebel |
Walter Hensley | East Virginia Blues | Pickin’ on Newgrass | |
Wilson Banjo Co. | If you don’t climb the mountain | Lonely as it gets | |
Al Batten and the Bluegrass Reunion | Highway of Regret | 36 Years and Counting | |
The Grass Cats | Right Next Door | Home to Carolina | New Time |
Rambler’s Choice | Sit and sing the Blues | Sounds of the Mountain | |
Nixon, Blevins & Gage | Carolina Pig Pickin’ Night | Picking with Friends | Clover |
Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road | I saw the golden stairs | Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road | |
Darin & Brooke Aldridge | The price I pay | Single | |
Tony Rice | Home from the Forest | Manzanita | Rounder |
Country Gazette | Saro Jane | Hello Operator | |
The Chapmans | Old man in the shanty | Follow Me | Pinecastle |
Sideline | I’m in Tennessee | Single | |
Dailey & Vincent | Elizabeth | Sings the Statler Brothers | Rounder |
Dailey & Vincent | I’ll go to my grave loving you | Sings the Statler Brothers | Rounder |
Lou Reid, Terry Baucom & Carolina | Don’t pass me by | Carolina Blue | Rebel |
Dolly Parton | Rocky Top |