Joseph FireCrow (1959-2017) was born on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Montana and studied flute formally at Brigham Young University before returning to the traditional Native American flute in the early 1990s. His album Cheyenne Nation was Grammy-nominated in 2001, and he won the Grammy Award for Best New Age Album in 2010 as a featured flutist on David Darling’s Prayer for Compassion. FireCrow died on July 11, 2017.

Mood and energy: Plaintive, resonant, storytelling. Recommended uses: reflection, meditation.

Sacred Ground Confidence Score: 4 out of 5 stars   Final recommendation: Approved.

Why this artist belongs in Sacred Sounds: A Grammy-winning Northern Cheyenne flutist whose collaborative win alongside David Darling shows how the Native American flute tradition and the broader New Age genre have long intersected.