Piano & a Microphone 1983

Piano and a Microphone 1983 is a posthumously released demo album by Prince, released on CD, vinyl, and digital formats on September 21, 2018. It is the first album released by the Prince estate with material from his archive, the Vault. The album was discovered in Prince's vault at Paisley Park as a single cassette tape. The music was recorded in 1983 in one take at Prince's Kiowa Trail home studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota. The session was about 35 minutes of Prince's vocals while he played piano and segued between songs. The session includes alternate versions of previously released and yet-to-be released songs, cover versions, and sketches of songs. The New York Times called it "a glimpse of a notoriously private artist doing his mysterious work." Four of the album's nine tracks were previously unreleased - "Mary Don't You Weep", "Wednesday", "Cold Coffee & Cocaine", and "Why the Butterflies".