image courtesy of Frank Roszak Promotions

EP Review of Micki Free: Dreamcatcher

Micki Free is a Grammy winner and recipient of a Native American Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement Award. His 2024 EP release, Dreamcatcher, is an excellent mostly-blues album, with a bit of musical variety and variations among the songs, making for a fun listen that’ll soon become a welcome addition to your music collection or playlist. Micki’s band is comprised of Cindy Blackman Santana (drums), Benny Rietveld (bass), and Ray Green (vocals). Dreamcatcher also features guest appearances from Rhonda Smith (Prince, Jeff Beck) on bass and Mark “Muggie Doo” Leach (Buddy Miles) on Hammond organ and piano.

The album kicks off strong with my personal favorite in the collection, the rollicking blues number “When The Devil’s At Your Door.” It’s followed by the funky blues – or perhaps it’s bluesy funk – “My Sweet Honey.”

The instrumental “Dreamcatcher,” next up, has kind of an adult contemporary vibe, a bit reminiscent of ’70s mellow blues-based rock ‘n roll, and features the notable inclusion of some Native American flute musical runs (played by Micki, per the liner notes). It’s followed by “Night Crawler,” a heavy, moderately psychedelic, throwback blues rocker with a rattling, omnipresent background buzzing wall of sound.

“We Are One,” the last studio recording on the EP, has kind of an acoustic vibe, with the guitar strumming giving it an almost folky blues flavor, though the electric guitar line that dances through the song add a classic rock ‘n roll energy to the song, too. It’s a very cool arrangement!

Finally, the sixth song is labeled a “bonus track.” It’s “Dreamcatcher Live,” a live version of the instrumental number “Dreamcatcher.” Surprisingly, it’s much shorter than the studio version of the song, and I think it levels up the song by imbuing it with an energy that’s hard to duplicate outside a live setting.

In all, Dreamcatcher is a very cool EP, one I simply couldn’t resist sharing with you via review. Definitely worth checking out!