Micki Free On The "Dreamcatcher" EP, KISS, Santana, Vegas & More - "Paltrocast" Exclusive

Photo byMicki Free

GRAMMY Award-winner, 5X Native American Music Awards Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement-winner, and incendiary guitarist Micki Free has been on the cutting-edge of the music industry from the start of his career. Having been signed to a management deal with Gene Simmons and Diana Ross that launched his career, Free joined the legendary R&B group Shalamar where he became friends with Prince. After his departure in the early 1990s, Free continued his solo career on the stage and/or in the studio with a host of iconic artists, including Carlos Santana, Janet Jackson, KISS, Steven Van Zandt, Aerosmith, Neil Young and Bill Wyman.

Born mixed blood Cherokee/Comanche Native American and Irish descent, Micki Free has mastered the Native American flute and in addition to his guitar-driven blues rock albums has recorded five flute music albums. He has used his platform to advocate for the Native American community and created the Native Music Rocks program, which gives Native American musicians performance opportunities and also founded what is believed to be the first Native American record company, Native Music Rocks Records.

Free's most recent full-length album, Turquoise Blue, was released via the Dark Idol Music label distributed by Burnside Distribution / The Orchard / Sony and featured plenty of notable guest musicians, including Gary Clark Jr., Steve Stevens, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram and Cindy Blackman Santana. Free released an alternative version of the album’s single “World On Fire (Warrior Remix)” with Blackman Santana and her fellow Santana band members Karl Perazzo and Andy Vargas.

More recently -- today, in fact -- Micki Free has released a new EP titled Dreamcatcher. Written, produced, and arranged by Free 00 who performed all guitars, lead and background vocals, and Native American flute -- Dreamcatcher was recorded between Rio Grande Studios in New Mexico, with producer Ken Riley, and Studio A Las Vegas, with producer Myles Martin (The Weeknd, SZA, Travis Scott). For the studio sessions, Free enlisted members of his friend Carlos Santana’s band, including the earlier-mentioned Cindy Blackman Santana (drums), Benny Rietveld (bass) and Ray Green (vocals). The EP also includes guest appearances from bassist Rhonda Smith (Prince, Jeff Beck) and Mark “Muggie Do” Leach on Hammond organ and piano.

In July 2024, I had the pleasure -- and I do mean "the pleasure" -- of speaking with Micki Free via Zoom, as embedded above and set to air via the Long Beach, New York-based Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz television series. Beyond Dreamcatcher, we discussed KISS, Van Halen, Carlos Santana and Las Vegas. More on Free can be found by clicking here.