Jake Shimabukuro rings in the holidays with ‘Tis The Season’

Seasons greetings! Today on World Cafe, we’re trading in your typical winter wonderland for Christmas on the beach with ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro.

Ever since he became one of the earliest viral stars in internet history with a cover of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” Shimabukuro has become the go-to when it comes to the ukulele, and he’s performed alongside fellow virtuosos like Yo-Yo Ma, Béla Fleck and Billy Strings.

For his new holiday album, Tis the Season, Shimabukuro teamed up with old friends, including an archival performance with the late Jimmy Buffett. There’s also a performance with Michael McDonald, but it’s not his voice you should be listening for.

“I should have put something on there like ‘featuring Michael McDonald on ukulele’ because people don’t realize that that’s him playing,” Shimabukuro says. “He sounds great, and the weird part is his ukulele playing still sounds like Michael McDonald.”

It’s a holiday hang with Jake Shimabukuro on World Cafe.

This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Kimberly Junod.  Our digital producer is Miguel Perez. World Cafe’s engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.