Andrea Swensson is a host and writer at Minnesota Public Radio’s The Current, where she helms The Local Show, a weekly show dedicated to exploring the Minnesota music scene, and the O.K. Show podcast, which investigates the intersection between music and wellness.
Andrea has been covering Minnesota music actively since 2005. Prior to joining MPR she was the music editor of City Pages, where she founded the AAN AltWeekly Award-winning Gimme Noise music blog, and edited and contributed to online music sites Reveille Magazine and HowWasTheShow.com.
You can hear Andrea when she hosts The Current’s Local Show every Sunday night from 6 to 8 p.m.
When We Stay Alive is an album about navigating a period of pain and loss, and about changing our relationship to our trauma. Channy writes beautifully about these topics, taking the listener along for the ride as she finds herself again and reconnects with her band.
As a warm-up for playing The Current's 15th Anniversary Party, The Bad Man visited our studio for a raucous session on The Local Show.
Matt Fink - aka Dr. Fink - was one of Prince's first keyboard players and is a member of the Revolution. In conversation with Andrea Swensson, Dr. Fink reflects on performing, recording and touring with Prince. 'He was always transforming himself into something different with every record,' Fink says. 'There was always something new and original and exploratory.'
Actor, comedian and musician Fred Armisen ('Saturday Night Live'; 'Portlandia'; 'Late Night with Seth Meyers') discovered Prince shortly after the release of '1999.' In a conversation with Andrea Swensson, Armisen talks about how he first heard Prince and became a fan for life. 'Prince really became my favorite artist,' Armisen says. 'I really soaked up every lyric, every little drumbeat, everything about him.' Listen to Andrea's full conversation with Fred Armisen.
Production/lighting designer LeRoy Bennett began working with Prince in 1980 and continued working with him until 1994. 'I was blessed that I started my life and this career with him,' says Bennett, who has gone on to work with such artists as Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande. 'Prince pushed you knowing that you were giving all that you could.' Listen to Andrea Swensson's full conversation with Bennett.
While making the documentary series 'Prince: The Story of 1999,' Andrea Swensson spoke to drummer and guitarist Jellybean Johnson, a legend of the Minneapolis Sound and a founding member of The Time. Andrea spoke to Johnson about what it was like coming up in music with Prince, and how Prince helped shape the sound and the look of The Time, the Revolution and more.
It shouldn't be surprising that a multidisciplinary talent like Dessa would conceive of such an ambitious, large-scale collaboration, but listening to Sound the Bells, recorded live at Orchestra Hall earlier this year, it's clear that by taking on challenges like this one, she's pushed her artistry to new heights.
Bobby Rivkin - better known as Bobby Z - first met Prince in the mid-1970s and went on to become drummer for the Revolution. While making 'Prince: The Story of 1999,' Andrea Swensson spoke to Bobby Z about his many memories working with Prince, including Bobby's theory about Prince's famous purple trench coat. Listen to Andrea's full conversation with Bobby Z.
As part of the making of Prince: The Story of 1999, Andrea Swensson got the chance to speak to Prince's longtime collaborator and keyboard player, Lisa Coleman. Lisa joined Prince's band in the early 1980s and became a member of the Revolution. 'Hang around Prince, and stuff was going to happen,' Coleman recalls. Listen to Andrea's full conversation with Lisa Coleman.
While making Prince: The Story of 1999, Andrea Swensson had a chance to speak to music icon Nile Rodgers about his special relationship with Prince. 'He and I became real friends,' Rodgers recalls, 'like close buddy kind of friends.' Listen to Andrea's complete conversation with Nile Rodgers.
Brittany Howard, solo artist and frontwoman of Alabama Shakes, talks to Andrea Swensson about discovering Prince as a youngster and about how much Prince continues to inspire her work to this day. Howard also tells the story of the time Prince jumped onstage with Alabama Shakes at a show at Paisley Park and played 'the most epic solo.'
Your Album of the Week is the Super Deluxe reissue of Prince's 1999. In addition to remastering Prince's original double album, 1999, the new Super Deluxe reissue of his iconic, breakthrough album includes 35 tracks from Prince's vault, making it the biggest posthumous release of his work to date.
Prince's first guitarist, Dez Dickerson, talks with The Current's Andrea Swensson, taking us back to the early days, into the recording studio, and from the smallest clubs to the biggest stages. 'From the very beginning,' Dickerson says, 'Prince had a clear idea of what he wanted, how he wanted it, how he wanted us to coalesce as a band, what he wanted to say, and what message that would send.'
Author Duane Tudahl has said, 'The sound of '1999' is the sound of Prince and Peggy McCreary.' An audio engineer at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles, McCreary worked extensively with Prince not only on '1999,' but also on 'Purple Rain' and 'Parade,' plus some of Prince's other projects with the Time and Vanity 6. Andrea Swensson connected with McCreary for a fascinating conversation.
In gathering information for episode 1 of 'Prince: The Story of 1999,' The Current's Andrea Swensson spoke to former Los Angeles Times music critic Robert Hilburn, who interviewed Prince in 1982, the year '1999' was released.
How do you make a catalog of deftly delivered rap hits a classical collaboration? Dessa walks through the process of making 'Sound the Bells,' her new album of her greatest hits with the Minnesota Orchestra providing the score behind the celebrated singer and rapper.
In a session for the Local Show, Reina del Cid performed songs from her new album 'Morse Code.'
It's been five years since Minneapolis rapper MaLLy has put out an album, and he's been through a lot in those five years. What has he been up to? 'Transformation, practicing a sober and clean life, meditation, and Buddhism — really just focusing on the music,' he told Andrea Swensson on the Local Show.
Twin Cities-based singer-songwriter Kara Laudon released the album 'Old Lives' on September 27. Shortly after the album's release, Laudon and her band performed songs from the album on The Local Show, and Laudon chatted with host Andrea Swensson.
Ingrid Chavez told us about the poignant night she first met Prince in Uptown, Minneapolis, their sweet friendship, and what it was like to work together at Paisley Park back in the winter of 1987-1988, when the building was just opening its doors.