Prince’s return to making new music has been a source of great joy for those who worship at the altar of the Purple One. His return to touring, however has been mostly confined to sporadic dates in the UK until now. In support of his new album Art Official Age and 3rdEyeGirl’s debut Plectrumelectrum, Prince has announced the first date of a US tour called Hit And Run.

The only show that’s officially scheduled so far is in Louisville, KY, and it will be a hometown show for 3rdEyeGirl drummer Hannah Welton. A portion of all the ticket sales will be donated to local Louisville charities. Tickets go on sale at 10AM CDT local time on Monday, 3/9. During his run of UK shows, Prince announced venues and dates via Twitter, but since he deleted all his social media accounts, who knows how he’ll do it this time. Regardless, I’m confident he’ll will find an effective, sufficiently magical way to communicate.

That’s not all he’s been up to. According to an “industry insider” who spoke with The Boston Herald, Prince contributed a song to Rihanna’s forthcoming album R8. Is it just me or does that album keep sounding better and better?

[Photo by Ethan Miller.]