The Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club will host world famous musician Shelly Waters as its featured entertainer for the 43rd annual BHYC Regatta on Saturday, July 29.

Shelly Waters’ musical roots run as deep and wide as the mighty Mississippi River that snakes through her home state of Louisiana. Her sound is the epitome of the holy tonal trinity of blues, country, and rock.  From intimate coffee shops to festival crowds of 10,000+, Waters’ winding musical road has led her to share stages with a wide spectrum of artists as diverse as the legendary Loretta Lynn to the amazing Alynda Lee Segarra (Hurray for the Riff Raff). 

Shelly Pellerin Waters was born to a Cajun-French family and was raised on a farm in Rayne, Louisiana.  When she was 10 years, she began taking guitar lessons, and at the tender age of 11, Waters joined J.B. David and the Mule Skinners, a local Cajun French music band. The band played in Cajun dance halls, private events, and music festivals as far away as Nova Scotia. After a year with the Mule Skinners, Waters started her own country band, Shelly and Southern Spice and the band played locally and regionally for many years. 

Since then, Shelly’s path has led her from Louisiana to Texas to South Carolina and now to Maine.  Her ventures and adventures included earning a U.S. Coast Guard captain’s license, living for eight years on a sailboat in the South Carolina Lowcountry, and sailing over 20,000 nautical miles (which included Newport - Bermuda and Marblehead - Halifax races) with her husband and life-long sailor, Dave. In 2014, the husband/wife team were 5th overall in the Newport Bermuda Race Double-Handed Division.  

Recorded in Nashville with renowned producer/multi-instrumentalist Josh Kaler, her new, self-titled album will be released on July 28 - the day before she appears at the Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club.