Mick Fleetwood is releasing a blues album with Jake Shimabukuro, "the Jimi Hendrix of the ukulele"

Press images of Mick Fleetwood and Jake Shimabukuro

(Image credit: Mick Fleetwood: Daniel Sullivan | Jake Shimabukuro: Sienna Morales)

Fleetwood Mac legend Mick Fleetwood has joined forces with renowned ukulele player Jake Shimabukuro to record a blues album. Blues Experience will arrive on October 18 via Forty Below Records, and is preceded by the pair's version of the delta blues classic Rollin' N Tumblin', a song made famous via earlier versions by the likes of Muddy Waters, Cream and RL Burnside.

"Jake and I had a full let-it-all-go moment on this one!" says Fleetwood. "Jake let his hair down. A blues standard being given a wake-up call!"

"Mick's energy when he plays is so infectious," adds Shimabukuro. "He's such an intense musician. He pushes everyone around him, and it's inspiring to see his facial expressions and watch his movement and the way he hits the drums."

Shimabukuro, who, we're reliably informed, is known as "the Jimi Hendrix of the ukulele", first met Fleetwood at the Na Hoku Hanohano Awards (Hawaiian Music Awards) in the late 1990s. He has also worked with the likes of Yo-Yo Ma, Bela Fleck and The Flecktones, Jimmy Buffett, Jack Johnson, Bette Midler, Ziggy Marley, Sonny Landreth, Billy Strings, Lukas & Willie Nelson and Warren Haynes.

Other songs recorded for the album include covers of Procul Harum's A Whiter Shade of Pale, Neil Young's Rockin’ in the Free World, and a version of Christine McVie's classic Songbird.

"I remember Mick took a moment of silence after the song ended and you could see that he felt Christine’s presence," says Shimabukuro. “I felt so fortunate to be able to experience that with Mick. It was very powerful to see the effect it had on him."

Blues Experience is available to pre-order now.

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Mick Fleetwood and Jake Shimabukuro: Blues Experience tracklist

1 Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers
2 Rollin’ N Tumblin’
3 Need Your Love So Bad
4 Kula Blues
5 Whiter Shade of Pale
6 I Wanna Get Funky
7 Still Got The Blues
8 Rockin’ In The Free World
9 Songbird
10 Songbird (Mick spoken word)

Mick Fleetwood &amp; Jake Shimabukuro: Blues Experience cover art — (Image credit: Forty Below Records)

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Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.