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 Bluegrass Show Playlist: December 14th, 2025
| Artist | Song Title | Album Title | Record Label |
| Alison Krauss & Union Station | Cluck Old Hen | Every Time You Say Goodbye | Rounder |
| Dailey & Vincent | Don’t you call my name | ||
| Country Gentlemen | Christmas time back home | Christmas Time Back Home | Rebel |
| Dale Ann Bradley & Steve Gulley | Christmas the Mountain Way | Christmas the Mountain Way | |
| Flatt And Scruggs | You’re not a drop in the bucket | The Complete Mercury Sessions | Mercury |
| Lou Reid, Terry Baucom & Carolina | Prisoner of the Past | Carolina Blue | Rebel |
| Al Batten & the Bluegrass Reunion | Christmas in our Hometown | Christmas in Carolina | Blue Bell |
| Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road | Christmas in Carolina | Christmas in Carolina | Blue Bell |
| Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out | Modern Day Bonnie and Clyde | Bluegrassed | |
| Junior Sisk | Sweeter than Tupelo Honey | Single | |
| Seldom Scene | Hello Mary Lou | Best of the Seldom Scene | Rebel |
| John Starling | Beautiful Star of Bethlehem | Sugar Plums | Sugar Hill |
| Petter Rowan | Christmas Times A Comin’ | Sugar Plums | Sugar Hill |
| Johnson Mountain Boys | Our Last Goodbye | Blue Diamond | Rounder |
| The Rice Brothers | Don’t think Twice | The Rice Brothers | Rounder |
| Tim O’Brien | Making Plans | Sugar Plums | Sugar Hill |
| Doc Watson | Christmas Lullaby | Sugar Plums | Sugar Hill |
| Jimmy Arnold | M Street Rag | Jimmy Arnold | |
| Jimmy Martin | Sophronie | You don’t know my mind | Rounder |
| Leftover Salmon/Del McCoury | Twisted Pine | Let’s Party About It | |
| Alan Jackson & Alison Krauss | The Angels Cried | Honky Tonk Christmas | |
| Nixon, Blevins & Gage | What Child is This | Picking on Christmas | Clover |
| Rhonda Vincent | Busy City | Only Me | |
| J.D. Crowe & the New South | Grandpa’s Shoes | Come on down to my world | Rounder |
| Luke Shamblin | Hills of Home | Single | |
| Audie Blalock | A voice of my Savior | Christmas the Mountain Way | |
| Larry Sparks | Blue Christmas | Christmas Time Back Home | Rebel |
| Lost & Found | Colder and Colder | Across the Blue Ridge Mountains | Rebel |
| Country Gentlemen | Jingle Bells | Christmas Time Back Home | Rebel |
| Molly Tuttle | Side Saddle | Crooked Tree | |
| Joe Diffie | Somehow Tonight | Homecoming | |
| Sturgill Simpson | Sitting here without you | Cuttin’ Grass Vol 1 | |
| The Grass Cats | Favorite Christmas Memories | Christmas in Carolina | Blue Bell |
| Tommy Edwards | The Christmas as Letter | The Christmas Album | |
| Jason Carter/Michael Cleveland | With a Vamp in the Middle | Carter and Cleveland | |
| Seldom Scene | West Texas Wind | A Change of Scenery | Sugar Hill |
| Patty Loveless | Santa’s Train | Bluegrass & White Snow | |
| Constant Change | Christmas Time Back Home | Christmas in Carolina | Blue Bell |
| Tony Rice | Church Street Blues | Church Street Blues | Rounder |
| Newton & Thomas | Santa Clause is coming to town | Christmas in the Smokies | |
| Jerry Douglas | Away in a manger | Sugar Plums | Sugar Hill |
| Larry Cordle | Black Diamond Strings | Murder on Music Row | |
| Lonesome River Band | Cabin of Love | Carrying the Tradition | Rebel |
| Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver | Christmas Medley | Sugar Plums | Sugar Hill |