This remembrance is a contribution from Tim Stafford, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter with Blue Highway, and currently Artist in Residence in the ETSU Bluegrass, Old Time, and Roots Music program.
This past week, the East Tennessee bluegrass community lost two of its finest. Greg Fields and GC Matlock were good friends of mine, and known and loved by so many in this region; both also loved bluegrass music and did their very best to pass it on to younger generations. And because of that, their legacy will live on.
Harlan Greg Fields, 66, of Greeneville, TN passed away on March 8, 2025. He was born on January 29, 1959 to Alexander Fields and Charlsie Hood-Fields in Kingsport, TN. He graduated from Sullivan West High School and was an alumnus of East Tennessee State University and Tusculum College. He was legally blind from an early age and learned how to play music after an uncle gave four-year-old Greg a guitar, using his ear to find beautiful music—learning what his eyes couldn’t…