[Cover photo credit to Travis Shinn]
Singer/songwriter, musician, and activist Fantastic Negrito (aka Xavier Dphrepaulezz) has announced new album Grandfather Courage, a reimagined acoustic version of his 2022 album White Jesus Black Problems. He previously offered fans a preview of the collection’s new version of “Oh Betty”, in celebration of its Grammy nomination in the “Best American Roots Performance” category. Now, he has also released “Highest Bidder” (Reimagined Acoustic Version).
The original album’s multimedia project “tells the defiant tale of his 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 shares regarding the acoustic release:
The incredible story of my seventh generation grandparents was so profound. I reimagined it through the lenses of my touring band. Please check it out unplugged unapologetic reimagined.
All three of Fantastic Negrito’s previous studio albums have won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues album, including 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.
