Henry Franklin "Dick" Justice (April 2, 1903 – September 12, 1962) was an American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

and

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

musician, who hailed from

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

, United States.

Biography

Born Henry Franklin Justice, he recorded ten songs for

Brunswick Records Brunswick Records is an American record label founded in 1916. History 1916–1929 Records under the Brunswick label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, a company based in Dubuque, Iowa which had been manufacturing ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

in 1929. Justice was heavily influenced by black musicians, particularly

Luke Jordan Luke Jordan (January 28, 1892 or November 1893 – June 25, 1952) was an American blues guitarist and vocalist of some renown, particularly in the area of his home, in Lynchburg, Virginia. Biography Sources conflict on Jordan's birthplace. Some ...

, who recorded in 1927 and 1929 for

Victor Records The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer, incorporated in 1901. Victor was an independent enterprise until 1929 when it was purchased by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and became ...

. Justice's "Cocaine" is a verse-for-verse cover of the Jordan track of the same name recorded two years earlier. The song "Brownskin Blues" is also stylistically akin to much of Jordan's work but stands on its own as a Justice original. Justice is musically related to

Frank Hutchison Frank Hutchison (March 20, 1897 – November 9, 1945) was an American early country blues and Piedmont blues musician and songwriter. Okeh Records promotional materials referred to him as “The Pride of West Virginia,” and he is thought to ...

(with whom he played music and worked as a

coal miner Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extrac ...

Logan County, West Virginia Logan County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 32,567. Its county seat is Logan. Logan County comprises the Logan, WV Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Cha ...

), Bayless Rose and The Williamson Brothers. His recording of the traditional ballad " Henry Lee" was the opening track of Harry Smith's ''

Anthology of American Folk Music ''Anthology of American Folk Music'' is a three-volume compilation album released in August 1952 by Folkways Records. The album was compiled by experimental filmmaker Harry Smith from his own personal collection of 78 rpm records. It consists ...

''. Justice recorded four sides ("Guian Valley Waltz" and "Poor Girl's Waltz", "Muskrat Rag" and "Poca River Blues") with the

fiddler A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially syno ...

Reese Jarvis.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Justice, Dick 1903 births 1962 deaths 20th-century American musicians American street performers Blues musicians from West Virginia Brunswick Records artists Folk musicians from West Virginia