New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Grammy Award-winner, 5X Native American Music Awards Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement-winner, and incendiary guitarist MICKI FREE has signed to Bungalo Records / Universal Music Group which will release his new EP DREAMCATCHER on August 23. The EP's title track, "Dreamcatcher," will be released digitally tomorrow, Friday, June 14, across all streaming platforms.
Meanwhile, MICKI has today (June 13) shared an exclusive premiere of its music video which can be seen streaming below.
"In Native American folklore a Dreamcatcher filters out the bad dreams and keeps the good ones," explains MICKI. "To me there's a symbol of positivity if you believe in the dreams…I always have. The EP's name was inspired by living a dream I've had all my life…working with CarlosSantana and his band. The whole EP is recorded with the Santana band, like a dream come true you might say!"
MICKI shares the story of how his signing with Bungalo Records/UMG transpired:
"At my Las Vegas residency at Backstage Bar & Billiards, I was introduced to Frank Hensley, Senior Director of Label Relations at UMG, who already knew who I was and complimented me on my career and successes. Frank and I hit it off and I told him of my EP with members of Santana. After that meeting I sent him the EP and he loved it, suggesting I speak with Paul Ring, President of Bungalo Records. We all hit it off and I signed with Bungalo with Frank personally overseeing the deal. I couldn't be happier with the team there!"
Written, produced, and arranged by MICKI (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, MICKI enlisted members of his friend Carlos Santana's band including 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.
The EP consists of five tracks, including his recent single, "We Are One," which was written specifically for the World Culture Festival for which he was chosen to be an official "Envoy" for. He performed the song, leading a "1,000+ Guitar Ensemble," at the massive Olympic-scale unity celebration at The National Mall in Washington, DC in 2023.
DREAMCATCHER EP Track Listing:
1. "When The Devil's At Your Door"
2. "My Sweet Honey"
3. "Dreamcatcher"
4. "Night Crawler"
5. "We Are One"
MICKI—who's based in Las Vegas, NV—will be performing as direct support for Gilby Clark (ex-Guns N' Roses) on Friday, June 21 at Backstage Bar & Billiards in downtown Vegas. He will return to the venue to host his monthly residency (held every last Thursday), "An Evening With Micki Free: Songs and Stories From A Life In Music," on June 27. MICKI recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of his residency with a special show featuring his friend Bruce Kulick, who was KISS' lead guitarist for 12 years (1984-1996) noting his connection with KISS during that time as his former band Crown Of Thorns (Interscope Records) was managed by Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. See all upcoming dates and find ticket information here: MickiFree.com.
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 90's, FREE continued his solo career appearing on both the stage and in the studio with iconic artists including Carlos Santana, Janet Jackson, KISS, Little Steven Van Zandt, Aerosmith, Neil Young and Bill Wyman, just to name a few
His most recent album, TURQUOISE BLUE, was released via the Dark Idol Music label distributed by Burnside Distribution / The Orchard / Sony and features 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.
Born mixed blood Cherokee/Comanche Native American and Irish descent, 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 the first Native American record company (Native Music Rocks Records).
