Jake Shimabukuro & Mick Fleetwood

Biography

“Jake Shimabukuro & Mick Fleetwood” refers to the high‑profile collaboration between Hawaiian ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro and British drummer Mick Fleetwood, co‑founder of Fleetwood Mac, on the project Blues Experience. The partnership grew out of Shimabukuro’s long‑standing admiration for Fleetwood Mac and Fleetwood’s foundational role in British blues‑rock. Jake first met Mick after a Fleetwood Mac concert in Nashville, where he was invited backstage; a later reconnection on Maui—where Fleetwood has long maintained a home—led to serious discussions about recording together.[1][2] They eventually booked studio time at Fleetwood’s home studio in Kula, Maui, deciding to enter the sessions with only a loose plan and a shared love of the blues, letting improvisation and chemistry shape the music.[1][2]

Their album Blues Experience (released October 18) is a mostly instrumental set that reimagines classic blues and rock repertoire through the unusual pairing of ukulele and Fleetwood’s deeply rooted blues shuffle feel.[1] The record includes interpretations of Muddy Waters’ “Rollin’ and Tumblin’,” Little Willie John’s “Need Your Love So Bad” (also a Peter Green‑era Fleetwood Mac staple), Albert King’s “I Wanna Get Funky,” Gary Moore’s “Still Got the Blues,” Stevie Wonder’s “Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers,” and Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World,” alongside a powerful version of Christine McVie’s Fleetwood Mac ballad “Songbird.”[1][2] Tracking was done largely live with a small band, emphasizing interaction and spontaneity rather than heavy overdubbing.[1][2] Their collaboration fuses Shimabukuro’s virtuosic, effects‑friendly ukulele style—shaped by rock and fusion guitar heroes—with Fleetwood’s decades‑deep grounding in electric blues and classic rock, creating a distinctive cross‑generational, cross‑cultural take on blues that adds a new chapter to both artists’ legacies.[1][2][4]

The project also underscores Maui’s role as a creative hub for both musicians. Fleetwood, a longtime Maui resident and local arts supporter, offered his personal studio and community of players for the sessions, while Shimabukuro brought his core live band and his history of bridging Hawaiian tradition with global genres.[1][2][4] Critics and interviewers have highlighted Blues Experience as an unexpected yet natural meeting point between British blues history and contemporary Hawaiian innovation, with special attention to the emotional weight of “Songbird,” recorded in a single, highly intuitive take that Fleetwood described as feeling like the presence of Christine McVie was in the room.[1] Though not a standing band in the conventional sense, “Jake Shimabukuro & Mick Fleetwood” represents an ongoing musical relationship centered on shared respect, exploratory live recording, and a mutual desire to stretch the expressive possibilities of their primary instruments within the blues idiom.[1][2][3][4]

Fun Facts

• The first seeds of the collaboration were planted backstage at a Fleetwood Mac reunion concert in Nashville, where Mick Fleetwood invited Jake Shimabukuro to hang after the show and casually floated the idea of working together someday.[1][2]
• The sessions for Blues Experience took place at Mick Fleetwood’s home studio in the Kula region of Maui, reflecting Fleetwood’s deep ties to the island community where he has lived for years and previously operated a namesake restaurant in Lahaina.[1][2][4]
• Their version of Christine McVie’s “Songbird” was recorded in a single, highly emotional take; after the final note, Fleetwood told the band he felt Christine’s presence in the studio, and the musicians sat in powerful silence before anyone spoke.[1]
• Jake and Mick’s hard‑hitting rendition of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World” was originally cut for a Neil Young tribute album, but Shimabukuro liked the track so much he requested and received permission to also include it on Blues Experience.[1][2]

Musical Connections

Mentors/Influences

• Jimi Hendrix - Stylistic influence on Jake Shimabukuro’s approach to blues phrasing and electric‑guitar‑like expression on ukulele; Jake has cited Hendrix’s “Red House” as a revelatory blueprint for heavy blues playing. (Influence heard in Jake’s blues improvisations on Blues Experience and his broader blues‑rock repertoire.) [Influence developed from Jake’s early listening through adulthood, noted in interviews around the time of the Blues Experience sessions.[2]]
• Jeff Beck - Major influence on Shimabukuro’s melodic, lyrical lead style and his interest in recording “Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers,” a Stevie Wonder composition strongly associated with Beck. (“Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers” as performed on Blues Experience and prior duo recordings Jake made with Sonny Landreth.[1][2]) [Cited as a key listening influence in Jake’s formative and professional years, discussed in interviews leading up to the Blues Experience release.[2]]
• Albert King and classic electric blues guitarists - Foundational blues vocabulary informing the repertoire and feel of Blues Experience, particularly in bends, phrasing, and groove that Jake adapts to ukulele. (Cover of Albert King’s “I Wanna Get Funky” on Blues Experience.[1]) [Influence crystallized during Jake’s deepening interest in blues and rock guitar, referenced in accounts of the album’s song selection.[1][2]]
• John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers / Peter Green‑era Fleetwood Mac (as a lineage for Mick Fleetwood) - Mick Fleetwood’s early professional schooling in blues drumming came through John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers and the original blues‑based Fleetwood Mac, forming the rhythmic and stylistic foundation he later brings to the collaboration with Shimabukuro. (Original Fleetwood Mac recordings of “Need Your Love So Bad” and other blues standards that prefigure the versions revisited on Blues Experience.[1]) [Late 1960s for Fleetwood’s formative years in the British blues scene, whose legacy shapes his playing with Shimabukuro decades later.[1]]

Key Collaborators

• Jackson Waldhoff - Bassist and core member of Jake Shimabukuro’s band who anchors the rhythm section on the Jake Shimabukuro & Mick Fleetwood Blues Experience sessions. (Electric and/or upright bass on Blues Experience; present for the live studio recordings at Fleetwood’s Kula studio.[1][2]) [Recorded with Shimabukuro and Fleetwood during the Maui sessions that produced Blues Experience (prior to its October 18 release).[1][2]]
• Michael Grande - Keyboardist in Shimabukuro’s circle who plays on most of the Blues Experience tracks, contributing organ and piano textures to the blues arrangements. (Keyboards on much of Blues Experience, including pieces such as “Whiter Shade of Pale” and other blues/rock covers tracked live in the studio.[1][2]) [Participated in the main recording blocks at Mick Fleetwood’s Maui studio leading up to the album release.[1][2]]
• Sonny Landreth - Acclaimed slide guitarist who guests on the collaborative blues project, expanding the guitar voice alongside Shimabukuro’s ukulele and Fleetwood’s drums. (Slide guitar features on Blues Experience, including work connected to “Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers,” which Landreth and Shimabukuro had previously cut as a duo before involving Fleetwood.[1][2]) [Initial duo recording with Jake months before the Fleetwood collaboration, then participation in sessions once the Maui project took shape.[2]]
• Mark Johnstone - Keyboardist and longtime member of Mick Fleetwood’s solo blues band who contributes additional keys to the project, tying it to Fleetwood’s ongoing blues endeavors. (Keyboard contributions on select Blues Experience tracks.[1]) [Recorded during the same Maui sessions for the album, drawing on his existing role in Fleetwood’s solo blues projects.[1]]
• Neil Young (via tribute project context) - While not present in the studio, Young’s song “Rockin’ in the Free World” became a focal point of the collaboration when a Neil Young tribute project invited Shimabukuro to contribute and he asked Fleetwood to play drums. (Jake and Mick’s version of “Rockin’ in the Free World,” cut for a Neil Young tribute and simultaneously included on Blues Experience.[1][2]) [Recorded during the Maui sessions after the tribute organizers contacted Jake’s management, contemporaneous with the rest of the album tracking.[1][2]]

Artists Influenced

• Contemporary ukulele and crossover string players (general) - The Jake Shimabukuro & Mick Fleetwood collaboration broadens perceptions of what ukulele‑led ensembles can do in electric blues and classic rock, providing a high‑visibility model for other players to explore similar territory. (The album Blues Experience, particularly its treatments of canonical blues and rock songs with ukulele at the melodic center, serves as a reference point for genre‑crossing string players.[1][2][4]) [Influence emerging from the album’s release and subsequent coverage in the mid‑2020s.[1][2][3][4]]

External Links

• Spotify