Tackett Creek Music presents
From the stage of the Grand Old Opry to churches and venues all across the country comes a man unwavering in his faith and committed to his goal of bringing hope to the lost and seeing souls saved. He's a singer/songwriter, musician, guest speaker, author and cancer survivor, bringing a message of hope and healing.
Greg Marlow is from a small community in the mountains of East Tennessee. His musical ministry began in 1988 with the formation of the bluegrass gospel band New Harvest, in which he was lead singer and played several instruments in the band during his tenure for over thirty years. Greg and New Harvest traveled wherever they were asked to go playing churches, benefits, and major bluegrass festivals all across the eastern part of the United States.
Additionally, he is a musician, public speaker and author with ministry minded goals of reaching the lost. After overcoming a terminal cancer diagnosis, Greg has begun a new musical journey as a solo artist with a new sound and energy, mixing country, bluegrass, southern rock, and blues into his own unique sound coupled with his songwriting style of his personal journey of experiencing God’s miracles, delivering a message of hope.
He now makes his home in LaFollette, Tennessee, where he and his wife of thirty years, Angela, along with their son Luke have lived for the past 23 years.
I'm truly inspired by, and always have been, by the reality of life and real people. The most important thing is to be real, all the time. Real is always going to be better than slick if there's no emotion in the slick. To me a perfect example of that is an artist named Bruce Hedrick. We were both attending the ICMA awards show in Nashville this past May and stayed at the same hotel. We had an opportunity to sit with him, his wife, and their son and had lunch with them the next day. We got to hang out and talk to each other a lot and got to know him as having such a sweet spirit, such a great person. If you visit his social media you'll see that Bruce travels and sings at retirement homes, nursing homes, and assisted living places. Watching him perform to those old people is so sweet. He just loves on those people and sings to them and there is such a genuine spirit that you can see and feel the emotion in what he's doing. He does more than just sing to them, he loves them, and it touches them. You can see it on their faces. This only happens when there is a genuineness in the person and their ministry.
There's two groups of people you ain't never gonna fool and that's kids and old people. Kids have a God-given superpower and sensitivity to be able to sniff out a fake or a bad person at first meeting. And old people's been around and met a lot of people in their lifetime, and have learned the difference between someone operating out of genuine or fake motives. You can't fool either one, kids or the elderly. That's why it pays to be real all the time. If you have a genuine heart for ministry, it will show. If you haven't got that love for ministry, it will show on you somewhere down the road. If you want a blessing, then BE the blessing. Be real.
Musically, I'm inspired by anything raw and edgy acoustic sounds. I've also always loved storytellers like Tom T. Hall, Jim Croce, James Taylor, and of course, Hank Williams, but I never really wrote that way until the last few years and it all started with a phone call from a dear friend who wanted me to help him write a song about his testimony. And that's when everything changed for me.
Coming from a bluegrass background, my early days of writing were more so about Bible people and their stories. Now that I'm on my own, I'm inspired to write more about people and life experiences than just melodies, and I feel that they actually minister more than the other songs I wrote in years past. When life is real and people can relate to your stories, you have a greater opportunity to minister to them and touch them in a way that brings about real change. There is a real story behind a lot of my songs now and I'm excited about how God is using me and as long as I can go and share them, I'm gonna do exactly that.
I'm a firm believer that God is in control of our lives, and as I've seen several changes in my own life, the one thing that has been consistent has been God. With that said, I know doors have been closed and new ones have been open for me and I plan on trusting God's direction for me. Help me to continue to pray for wisdom and also the opportunity to share because my only desire is to see life's changed and transformed in the name of Jesus. Hope y'all have a blessed day.