Click here to read “Abilene Author,” a feature about Greg Young written by Loretta Fulton for the March/April issue of Abilene Scene magazine.

By Loretta Fulton

If you’ve been around Abilene very long, you’ve probably heard Greg Young perform, maybe at Texas Star Trading Company singing Christmas carols right after Thanksgiving or maybe at First Baptist Church where he is in the orchestra and is a solo vocalist and musician.

Maybe he was the pharmacist who filled your prescription at Hendrick Medical Center from 1995 to 2025 or currently at James McCoy Drug Store. Or maybe you’ve met his wife, Beth, who is director of City Light Community Ministries, an outreach of First Baptist Church. 

At least, you most likely know Greg’s reputation as a skilled pharmacist and a gifted songwriter and performer. Greg grew up in Hamlin, attending the Nazarene Church with his family. That led to the first song he wrote and published, The Old Church. But he was talented from the beginning and began singing in public with his best friend when they were about 6. 

“We sang a comedic song for a church party,” he recalled. 

From there, Greg progressed and by age 13 was playing regular gigs with a band. Today, he writes songs, poetry and some inspirational pieces.

Greg Young the pharmacist and the entertainer

BIO

Family: Married Beth Harper Young, 1985. Beth has worked for AISD, St. John’s Academy and First Baptist Church, Abilene. She is the current director for City Light Ministries; Son, Matthew Young,  RN at Hendrick Health. Daughter, Kayla Crockett, elementary school teacher at Alcorta Elementary, grandchildren, Lily, Ben, Nathan and Jhett. 

Education:
Southwestern Oklahoma School of Pharmacy, BS, Pharmacy 1988
Hardin-Simmons University, Creative Writing Workshop 2001
Lacy Writing Award recipient, Hardin-Simmons, 2001
Board Certified Ambulatory Care Pharmacist, 2014, Board of Pharmacy Specialist
Board Certified Diabetes Educator, 2016, National Certification Board of Diabetes Educators

Current position:
Staff pharmacist at James McCoy Drug Store, song writing consultant, Big Note Studio, Abilene, performing songwriter, entertainer

Previous positions:
Pharmacist for Hendrick Health 1995 — 2025, Manager of Outpatient Pharmacy Services 2007-2025, diabetes educator, presenter, entertainer as “The Diabetes Cowboy” 2016–2020

Performance, entertainment: 
Bassist, vocalist for Friends and Family, Todd Reynold Memorial  album 1989 (independent)
Upright bassist, lead vocal for Catclaw Creek band  1995 to 2020, Catclaw Creek  debut album 2002,  Texas Frontier 2006 (independent)
Wrote Catclaw Creek Theme Song mentioned in Abilene In Song by Joe W. Specht, State House Press 2006 and Abilene Stories From Then to Now by Jay Moore, Abilene Christian University Press, 2013
Performing songwriter (independent), 2002 until present,  Itinerant Poet, 2002, Blind Man, 2006, Old Dogs, 2011, Jump For Joy, 2015 (benefitting Hendrick Children’s Hospital)
Co-wrote A Prayer for Abilene with Glenn Dromgoole, 2006
Co-wrote Songs About Saturday Night with Aaron Watson,  2009
Wrote Those Stars Still Shine Over Abilene for Zach Harmon, 2010
Co-wrote MIssing Me Some You with JB Cloud, recorded by Tony Barker, 2011
Wrote The Cowboy He Will Be for Ariel Hutchins which charted number one on the Texas Regional Radio Chart in April of 2022
Driving Down Mercy Road (2025) charted as the number one single on the European Country Music Chart and appeared on several other charts
I’m a Road Dog, released to radio in November 2025
Community involvement:
First Baptist Church,  orchestra, soloist, musician, mission committee
Past Board Member, Cancer Service Network
Past President, Abilene Acoustic Music Association Board Member, Classical Chorus of AbileneWest Texas Pharmacy Association

Q How many books have you written?
A Texas Limericks is the only book I have published to date. But I do plan on publishing a collection of poetry and some inspirational writing in the near future. 

Q At what age did you first start playing the guitar and singing? 
A I grew up in Hamlin and learned to play the guitar on Steve Reynolds front porch which was eight miles out in the country. This was in the late 1970s. My brother, me, and the Reynolds boys would play on the front porch and drink Dr Pepper while our parents played dominoes most Saturday nights. 

Q At what age did you write your first song?  
A The first song I wrote and ultimately recorded was The Old Church, a tribute to growing up in the Nazarene Church in Hamlin. I wrote the song in the early 1980s and recorded in in Amarillo in 1989 with my brother, Mark Young, and dear friends Stephen Reynolds and Allen Young (no relation).

Q At what age did you first perform for the public? 
A My earliest memory is singing with my best friend Todd Reynolds when we were probably 6 or 7. We sang a comedic song for a church party. By 13, I was playing regular gigs with a band. I remember playing in several places around Abilene including Truby, Oplin, Anson and Old Glory.  

Q At what age did you realize you enjoyed writing prose as well as songs?]
A In my view the creative energy comes from the same place. Some things end up as songs, some as poems, jokes or stories. My process has always been to simply tell the story. In time, the work begins to take on a form and finally settle on a final form. This process can be days weeks or even years. 

Q Any upcoming books, either music books or prose?
A I have written serious poetry for years and even published a few poems in college poetry journals. Poems are more difficult to share. They don’t sell and most folks don’t care to hear them. But those who love poetry love it intensely. I plan on self-publishing a collection of poems in the near future, possibly as early as late 2026. 

Loretta Fulton is creator and editor of Spirit of Abilene