His fourth album Hearts That Strain, a largely acoustic effort, produced by Dan Auerbach, was released in September 2017.

After a gap of four years, in August 2021, Bugg released the more pop-influenced fifth album Saturday Night, Sunday Morning.

[4] His father, David Bugg,[5] was a nurse, and his mother worked in sales, both parents having previously made recordings.

[6] He grew up in the Clifton council estate of Nottingham and started playing guitar at the age of 12 after being introduced to the instrument by his uncle Mark.

[3] Bugg was selected to perform on the "BBC Introducing" stage at the 2011 Glastonbury Festival at age 16 after submitting material to their website, and subsequently signed to Mercury Records.

[11] Talking about Bugg and his debut, Clash hailed the "precocious talent fusing retro folk with blistering contemporary rock riffs".

[14] Bugg's touring band drummer Jack Atherton and bassist Tom "Robbo" Robertson performed on five songs on the album.

In August 2012 Bugg was a supporting act for Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds at Belsonic Music Festival, Belfast.

[18] Shangri La includes Elvis Costello's drummer Pete Thomas, and Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

[20] Bugg was one of five nominees for the 2013 Brit Award for "British Breakthrough Act", which was voted on by BBC Radio 1 listeners.

That same month, he was also at the River Stage at Ottawa Bluesfest and performed at Paléo Festival near the Lake Geneva in Switzerland.

On 2 August 2017, Jake Bugg's new single "How Soon the Dawn" was played on BBC Radio 1, hosted by Annie Mac.

[34] Bugg is set to join Liam Gallagher and John Squire, as a special guest on their upcoming international tour, scheduled to commence in March 2024, in promotion of their new self-titled album.

[citation needed] In June 2017, Bugg was confirmed as the shirt sponsor of his favourite and local football team, Notts County, taking the November slot in a season-long rotation.