The new season of the Official Prince Podcast, The Story of Welcome 2 America will debut Thursday 22 July and include songs never previously heard.
It explores Prince’s career in 2010-2011, as he recorded his prescient and political album Welcome 2 America and then mysteriously archived it. Listeners will have the first chance to hear the songs on the album ahead of its official release.
The award-winning Official Prince Podcast recently received two additional Webby Awards nominations for its 8-part series The Story of Sign O’ The Times and was both the People’s Voice Winner and the Webby Winner in Podcasts, Music Arts & Culture last month.
Hosted by music journalist Andrea Swensson with special guest co-hosts Shelby J. and Morris Hayes of Prince’s band the NPG, the four-episode season will take listeners into the studios of Paisley Park and out onto the road to learn more about this period of Prince’s later-era career.
The hosts will be joined by the additional musicians who performed on Welcome 2 America—Tal Wilkenfeld, Chris Coleman, Elisa Fiorillo, and Liv Warfield—plus important behind-the-scenes collaborators from the era who will shed light on Prince’s creative process and late-night conversations.
In addition to hearing the stories behind the singles “Welcome 2 America” and “Born 2 Die,” listeners will get the opportunity to hear numerous unreleased vault tracks including “Same Page, Different Book,” “Check the Record,” “1000 Light Years From Here,” “1010 (Rin Tin Tin)” and “Stand Up and B Strong” for the very first time.
The first episode will be available on Thursday 22 July on all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Stitcher.
The previously unreleased Welcome 2 America album is available July 30. Preorder the album HERE.
