On Sunday, May 15 at Silver Spur in Mechanic Falls, Boothbay’s Bobby Reed will become the first musician from the area to be inducted into the Maine Country Music Hall of Fame.

”I grew up listening to country music, took guitar lessons and kept at it,” he told the Register. Reed has been performing since he was 12 and founded the Wildhorse Band in 1990.

Since then, he has been the band’s front man and booking agent. The group has traveled around the state on weekends, performing as many as 120 shows each year at venues ranging from fairs to campgrounds and clubs. For more than a decade, they were a featured band at the Maine Country Music Association (MCMA) Country Music Weekend.

Reed’s love of performing took him across Maine and as far as Tennessee. “I had a drive,” he explained. “I can look out over an audience and those people are having fun. It’s an indescribable feeling. You get lost in a particular song – everything is going so well.”

Reed plays mostly traditional country music. “I grew up listening to the older country artists and I like them all,” he said.

Over the past two decades, Reed and the band have received more than 60 awards for their work. In 2003, North American Country Music Association recognized him with the Rising Star Award for Album of the Year (Memories) and the Wildhorse Band as Most Promising Band of the Year.

In 2009, he was named Senior Entertainer of the Year by MCMA and was inducted into the Maine Ole Opry. MCMA named him All Time Great Male Vocalist in 2011and again in 2013.

Reed learned of his nomination to the Hall of Fame from a phone call early in March which was followed by a letter a few weeks later. It was his third time being nominated. Daughter Brittany, who performs with Reed, said the family hoped he would be inducted while his mother, Leila Barter, was alive. “Unfortunately, she passed away two years ago but for years she would travel with him and dance at his performances. She loved it,” Brittany said.

Brittany was 5 when she made her debut singing with her father onstage. “Spending time with him is amazing,” she said.

At the Hall of Fame performance, Reed will perform his mother’s favorite, “Come With Me,” and a song he wrote, “Oh, Daddy.”

The induction ceremony starts at 1 p.m. and is open to the public for a $15 admission charge. Maine Country Music Hall of Fame is in the basement of the Silver Spur building and will be open to the public. The plaque commemorating Reed’s induction will be on display.

“I’m very happy I made it this far coming from a small town like Boothbay. It’s overwhelming,” he said.