Prince’s “Welcome 2 America”, Featuring Tal Wilkenfeld, Now Available

Prince: Welcome 2 AmericaPrince’s highly anticipated posthumous release Welcome 2 America is finally available. Recorded in 2010, the album’s lyrical content sounds as if the legendary artist had insight into 2021.

“Welcome 2 America documents Prince’s concerns, hopes, and visions for a shifting society, presciently foreshadowing an era of political division, disinformation, and a renewed fight for racial justice,” the liner notes read.

The Purple One mysteriously shelved the project soon after it was recorded, although he embarked on a two-year “Welcome 2 America” tour. The record features his only studio collaborations with drummer Chris Coleman and bassist Tal Wilkenfeld, who met Prince in 2008. She recalls that he spent a lot of time with him that year and that the next year they played at an L.A. studio together. It was in March 2010 that the sessions for Welcome 2 America came to pass at Paisley Park.

“I just made everything up; he gave me no direction about what to play beyond a chord here or there. It was just do your thing,” Wilkenfeld told the Daily Telegraph. “I never heard the lyrics, never knew what the songs were about, never heard the melody. It was like we had to be psychic when we were playing.”

The bassist’s soulful lines and perfect tone are in full force on “Born 2 Die”:

Welcome 2 America is available now on CD, deluxe vinyl set and as a digital download (iTunes and Amazon MP3).

Welcome 2 America Track List:

  1. Welcome 2 America
  2. Running Game (Son Of a Slave Master)
  3. Born 2 Die
  4. 1000 Light Years From Here
  5. Hot Summer
  6. Stand Up and B Strong
  7. Check The Record
  8. Same Page, Different Book
  9. When She Comes
  10. 1010 (Rin Tin Tin)
  11. Yes
  12. One Day We Will All B Free

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  1. Trey

    It is a kind of uneven album with some songs that don’t seem to fit so well. Born 2 Die and Welcome 2 America really stand out. It is uncanny that the album was recorded so long ago and seems to relevant and modern. He was special.