Album artwork for Trio by Jake Shimabukuro / Nolan Verner / Dave Preston
Album artwork for Trio by Jake Shimabukuro / Nolan Verner / Dave Preston

Jake Shimabukuro has been redefining the capabilities of the ukulele for the last 20 years, and on February 14th, 2020 he returns with his new album 'Trio,' his first on Music Theories Recordings. It was nearly 15 years ago that the world first caught notice of the stunning musical artistry of Jake Shimabukuro. The young ukulele player's gorgeous rendition of George Harrison’s ballad 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' whilst sat in Central Park, became one of the most-watched clips on the then newly launched YouTube platform, and now sits at 16.5m+ views. Guided by producer R.S. Field (Steve Earle, Webb Wilder, John Mayall, Sonny Landreth) Shimabukuro, bassist Nolan Verner, and guitarist Dave Preston holed up in Nashville’s Sound Emporium studio in early 2019 with only a few snippets of riffs and melodies fleshed out, and over the course of a week these jams took flight and became songs. "I really wanted to capture the sound that we make when we jam together," Shimabukuro explains. "We get into this amazing improvisational zone at sound checks: Nolan will play a cool bass line, and Dave will chime in with these incredible guitar parts. Then I'll come in right after and play melodies to what they're doing. So I finally said, 'We should just go into the studio, hit 'record' and see what happens." Music fans will no doubt hail Trio as a high water mark for Shimabukuro.

Jake Shimabukuro has been redefining the capabilities of the ukulele for the last 20 years, and on February 14th, 2020 he returns with his new album 'Trio,' his first on Music Theories Recordings. It was nearly 15 years ago that the world first caught notice of the stunning musical artistry of Jake Shimabukuro. The young ukulele player's gorgeous rendition of George Harrison’s ballad 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' whilst sat in Central Park, became one of the most-watched clips on the then newly launched YouTube platform, and now sits at 16.5m+ views. Guided by producer R.S. Field (Steve Earle, Webb Wilder, John Mayall, Sonny Landreth) Shimabukuro, bassist Nolan Verner, and guitarist Dave Preston holed up in Nashville’s Sound Emporium studio in early 2019 with only a few snippets of riffs and melodies fleshed out, and over the course of a week these jams took flight and became songs. "I really wanted to capture the sound that we make when we jam together," Shimabukuro explains. "We get into this amazing improvisational zone at sound checks: Nolan will play a cool bass line, and Dave will chime in with these incredible guitar parts. Then I'll come in right after and play melodies to what they're doing. So I finally said, 'We should just go into the studio, hit 'record' and see what happens." Music fans will no doubt hail Trio as a high water mark for Shimabukuro.