Jake Shimabukuro, the ukulele virtuoso who learned the instrument at age four, brought his four-string artistry to downtown Nashville this week with a lineup of special guests that included bluegrass legend Sam Bush. The show was billed as Jake Shimabukuro with Special Guests Sam Bush, Caroline Jones, and Mac McAnally, and it played out at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's CMA Theater on Rep. John Lewis Way South.
According to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, which hosted the event and provided the listing's promotional image, the event has since passed. The show was also listed by Nashville Lifestyles for Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., with a scheduled run through 10 p.m. at the venue. The CMA Theater is no stranger to Shimabukuro — the outlet notes the same intimate, 776-seat room has hosted him before.
A Return Engagement for the CMA Theater
This was not Shimabukuro's first time plugging into that stage. Per musiccitynashville.net, he and a group of special guests performed at the CMA Theater back on June 27, 2023, and on that night Sam Bush joined the ensemble armed with a mandolin. The pairing of Shimabukuro's ukulele work with Bush's bluegrass pedigree has apparently proven durable enough to bring back for another Nashville date three years later.
The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's listing also laid out the practical details for concertgoers, capping ticket purchases at six per household and pointing fans toward the Hall of Fame and CMA Theater websites as the only official outlets for tickets.
From Honolulu Childhood to World Stages
Shimabukuro's story starts far from Music Row. Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, he picked up the ukulele at age four, according to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's own event page. That early start eventually carried him to some of the world's most storied venues — his official site states he has performed everywhere from the Sydney Opera House to the Hollywood Bowl and the Kennedy Center.
Along the way he has shared stages and studios with an eclectic list of collaborators. The Hall of Fame's listing credits him with work alongside Jimmy Buffett, Mick Fleetwood, Ziggy Marley, Bette Midler, and Yo-Yo Ma — a span of genres that mirrors the genre-blending instinct on display when he teams up with a bluegrass mainstay like Bush. Beyond performing, Shimabukuro has also been an advocate for music education and community outreach, per the same listing.
Part of a Bigger Tour Moment
The Nashville date arrives amid what appears to be a broad swing of shows for Shimabukuro. UConn Today reported that a separate performance of his in Storrs, Connecticut, is part of a nationwide tour stretching from Alaska to Florida, built around his latest recording, titled Pop Experience. In comments cited by Yahoo, Shimabukuro suggested the instrument's appeal keeps widening, saying, “The popularity of the ukulele seems to be still growing.”
That growing audience was on display once again in Nashville, where a downtown theater built for 776 people filled up for an evening blending Hawaiian-rooted ukulele technique with Music City's bluegrass royalty. Whether or not Caroline Jones and Mac McAnally took the stage alongside Shimabukuro and Bush, as originally billed, was not detailed beyond their listing as special guests.
