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: July 27th, 2025
Artist | Song Title | Album Title | Record Label |
Daniel Grindstaff | Finnland | Heroes and Friends | |
Dan Tyminski | Whiskey Drinking Man | Live at the Ryman | |
Kody Norris Show | Ruby Jane | Highfalutin’ Hillbilly | |
Bluegrass 2022 | EMD | Bluegrass 2022 | Pinecastle |
Flatt & Scruggs | You’re not a drop in the bucket | The Complete Mercury Sessions | Mercury |
Bluegrass Album Band | Age | Bluegrass Album Band Vol 4 | Rounder |
Seth Mulder & Midnight Run | Coming on Strong | Coming on Strong | Rebel |
Billy Strings | Leaning on a traveling song | Highway Prayer | |
Lost & Found | 14 Carat Mind | It’s about Time | |
Virginia Squires | Tall Dark Stranger | ||
Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder | Get up John | Live at the Charleston Music Hall | Skaggs |
Sister Sadie | All will be well | Single | |
Bluegrass 95 | Big Country | Bluegrass 95 | Pinecastle |
Charlie Sizemore | That’s how I got to Memphis | Heartache looking for a home | Rebel |
Del McCoury | If you talk in your sleep | Single | McCoury |
J.D. Crowe | Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain | Live in Japan | Rounder |
Dailey & Vincent | Bed of Roses | Sings the Statler Brothers | Rounder |
Dailey & Vincent | Don’t you call my name | Sings the Statler Brothers | Rounder |
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver | Misery River | The Original Band | Sugar Hill |
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver | Georgia Girl | The Original Band | Sugar Hill |
Craig Smith | Curly Headed Woman | Craig Smith | Rounder |
Larry Cordle | Yardbird | Tales from East Kentucky | |
Larry Cordle | A visit with an uncle | Took down and put up | |
Tennessee Bluegrass Band | Red dirt white house Blueridge Mountain Home | Single | |
Sturgill Simpson | All the pretty colors | Cuttin’ Grass Vol 1 | |
Sturgill Simpson | Sea Stories | Cuttin’ Grass Vol 2 | |
Seldom Scene | City of New Orleans | Live at the Cellar Door | Rebel |
Seldom Scene | California Cotton Fields | Live at the Cellar Door | Rebel |
Tony Rice | Church Street Blues | Church Street Blues | Rounder |
John McCuen | Togary Mountain | Will the Circle be Unbroken Vol 2 | |
Charlie Sizemore | No lawyers in Heaven | Heartache looking for a home | Pinecastle |
Al Batten & the Bluegrass Reunion | I’ll go stepping too | Bluegrass Reunion Style | |
Alan Jackson | Blueridge Mountain Song | The Bluegrass Album | |
Constant Change | Old Dangerfield | Evolving | |
Here Today | Sweet Little Miss Blue Eyes | Here Today | Rounder |
Jaelee Roberts | Looking for Yourself | Looking for Yourself | |
Dale Ann Bradley | Jackson Tennessee | Single | |
Hammertowne | This Old Martin Box | Hammertowne | |
Jerry Douglas | Wheel Hoss | Everything’s gonna work out fine | Rounder |
Jimmy Martin | My Walking Shoes | Will the Circle be Unbroken Vol 1 | |
Joe Mullins | Bacon in my beans | For the Record | |
Bluegrass Album Band | Somehow tonight | Songs of Flatt & Scruggs | Rounder |
Terry Baucom | Stepping Stones | In a groove | |
Country Gentlemen | Dixie Land for me | Joe’s Last Train | Rebel |