A nationally recognized folk musician grew up in Hyattsville.

Acoustic guitar player Harvey Reid currently lives in Maine, but his time in Hyattsville and College Park played a key role in the development of his music.

A March 3, 2011, article in the Stockton (Calif.) Record explains:

Born south of Bishop in Kern County, Reid was “in diapers” when his family moved to Hyattsville, Md.

As a teenager, he “just started playing” guitar. The Washington suburb was a “really nice place to discover music.” Bluesman Mississippi John Hurt lived nearby, and future acoustic guitar virtuoso John Fahey pumped gas in the area.

“I didn’t touch music till I was 14,” Reid said. “I freaked out the first time I got my hands on a guitar. I’m still obsessed. I have no idea why. It’s an amazing mystery.”

Reid later went to University of Maryland in College Park, where he studied math and French but ended up “majoring in guitar and parties,” as he says in the article. He left college and won the National Fingerpicking Guitar Competition in 1981.

More information about Reid can be found at Woodpecker Records’ website.