Welcome to "Travel to Listen," a new Unpacked series hosted by veteran music journalist Tim Chester. Over four episodes rolling out every other week, Tim takes us into the cities where music is more than entertainment—it's the shortcut to a place's soul.

This week, he heads to Minneapolis to hear how a community center, a cold climate, and a once-in-a-generation genius combined to create one of the most distinctive sounds in American music, plus how the city is celebrating a decade since Prince's passing.

In this episode

How the Minneapolis sound emerged from the Great Migration, housing segregation, rock radio, and a community center called The Way, where a teenage Prince jammed alongside Morris Day and Terry Lewis
Why Paul Peterson (dubbed St. Paul by Prince himself) believes the Minneapolis sound is joyous, funky, and built to last, and how his supergroup, the Minneapolis Funk All-Stars, is carrying it forward
The story of historian Kristen Zschomler: how grief over Prince's death led her to track 50+ locations across Minneapolis where he lived, worked, and recorded, and her ongoing mission to get them on the National Register of Historic Places
What Prince mastered at his childhood home in North Minneapolis. Plus, why Sound 80, the studio where he cut his first demo tapes at 19, was the launchpad for everything that followed
How to experience Minneapolis in 2026: from Paisley Park to First Avenue, Bunkers Music Bar to the Dakota, and the five-day Prince Celebration festival in June marking the 10th anniversary of Prince's death

Meet this week's guests

Paul Peterson is a musician, songwriter, and former Prince collaborator, dubbed "St. Paul" by the Purple One himself. He was a member of The Time and The Family, appeared in Purple Rain, and is now the leader of the Minneapolis Funk All-Stars, an all-star alumni supergroup dedicated to keeping the Minneapolis sound alive.

Kristen Zschomler⁠ is a historian and co-founder of the International Center 4 Prince Studies. She gives guided tours of Prince's Minneapolis and created Sound Around Tours, a self-guided audio tour app. She has researched and documented over 50 locations tied to Prince's life and work, and has successfully advocated for two of them to be added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Guest host ⁠Tim Chester⁠ is a freelance travel and culture writer who has spent the past 20 years exploring the world through the lens of music. His reporting has appeared in NME, Spin, and Afar, and his travels have taken him from Manhattan to Malawi and Beijing to Berlin in search of the festivals, scenes, and stories that reveal a city’s soul.

Chapters

00:00:00 Welcome to Minneapolis 00:01:00 The Minneapolis Funk All-Stars 00:03:45 Music as Healing 00:06:45 What Made Minneapolis a Crucible 00:09:30 The Way and the Scene's Roots 00:12:45 Prince's Landmarks 00:15:30 Celebrating a Decade Since Prince

A Music Fan's Travel Guide to Minneapolis

Minneapolis is a walkable city with a thriving live music scene, and the landmarks of the Minneapolis sound are spread across a compact, navigable footprint. Here's how to do it like a fan.

Start here: the essential stops

Paisley Park—Prince's home, recording complex, and creative sanctuary in Chanhassen, just outside the city. Now a museum and events venue.
Prince's childhood home—the North Minneapolis house where he mastered the piano, decoded albums note by note, and became Prince.
Sound 80 Studios—the recording studio where a 19-year-old Prince cut the demo tapes that landed him his Warner Brothers contract.
First Avenue—the venue Prince made famous in Purple Rain (he also recorded the song there, performing it live for the first time on that stage).

Hear live music

Bunkers Music Bar & Grill—the historic North Loop spot where Dr. Mambo's Combo plays every Sunday and Monday night.
The Dakota—an intimate downtown jazz club with a packed calendar every night of the week.
The Green Room—the venue where St. Paul and the Minneapolis Funk All Stars frequently play

Plan for June

Celebration 2026—the annual Prince estate event runs June 3–7 this year as a five-day gathering with concerts, dance parties, and unseen footage. The International Center 4 Prince Studies has programming June 1–2 as well, and a new community museum opening in North Minneapolis that flips the curatorial lens: instead of Prince's instruments, it collects the stories of the people he touched.

Artists to watch

Up next on Travel to Listen

Tim heads to Southern California to explore the spacey, grungy desert rock scene—and to find out there's a lot more to the region than Coachella. New episode in two weeks.

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