Grammy-Nominated Fantastic Negrito Releases ‘Grandfather Courage’ LP

“What ship is you the captain of?”

Fantastic Negrito was asked this question pejoratively and rhetorically as a child on the streets of Oakland when a local jokester spied his dandy fashion. Though the disparagement stung sufficiently for FN to remember the quip to this day, it can now be said, with seven celebrated albums to his credit and devoted worldwide audiences clamoring for his live shows, FN– a master upcycler of haberdashery such as the classics found in the photo above– has indeed found his metaphorical maritime vessel and successfully been invested with its’ stylistic captaincy.

Singles: “Oh Betty” (Reimagined Acoustic) | “Highest Bidder” (Reimagined Acoustic)

Grandfather Courage album purchase link

Part love story, part history lesson and with acclaim spanning Pitchfork to NPR, Grandfather Courage tells the defiant tale of FN’s seventh generation white Scottish indentured servant grandmother Betty Gallimore who was living in a common law marriage with his seventh generation African-American enslaved grandfather, Grandfather Courage, in the face of the racist, separatist, laws of 1750s colonial Virginia. Fantastic Negrito gives insight into the new collection’s title, “My Grandfather was listed as a man with no name so I felt like I needed to give him his credit and a name, Grandfather Courage. The two formed a forbidden union during the time of slavery in 1750s Virginia. If they can make it, what’s our excuse?”

A larger than life character, Fantastic Negrito’s own story is stranger than fiction. He first released an album in 1996, but a near fatal car crash in 1999 effectively ended the first chapter of his career. It resulted in him spending three weeks in a coma and initially losing almost all movement in his right hand, drastically limiting his ability to play guitar. Effectively reborn under his new artist identity of Fantastic Negrito, his career got underway when his phenomenal, charismatic performance won NPR Music’s prestigious Tiny Desk Concert Contest.

All three of Fantastic Negrito’s previous studio albums have won the GRAMMY Award for Best Contemporary Blues album: The Last Days of Oakland, Please Don’t Be Dead and Have You Lost Your Mind Yet?. He has toured with artists as varied as Sturgill Simpson and Chris Cornell, collaborated with Sting and E-40, launched his own Storefront Records label, and founded the Revolution Plantation, an urban farm aimed at youth education and empowerment. He is also confirmed for several film screenings w/ performances and to play a show in Italy in March 2023 as guest to Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Full list of live appearances here.