Dick Justice

For other people with similar names, see Richard Justice (disambiguation).

Dick Justice
Born	Henry Franklin Justice (1903-04-02)April 2, 1903 East Lynn, West Virginia, U.S.
Died	September 12, 1962(1962-09-12) (aged 59) Yolyn, West Virginia, U.S.
Genres	Blues Folk
Occupations	Coal miner Musician
Instruments	Vocal Guitar
Years active	1929
Labels	Brunswick Records

Henry Franklin "Dick" Justice (April 2, 1903 – September 12, 1962) was an American blues and folk musician, who hailed from West Virginia, United States.

Biography

Born Henry Franklin Justice, he recorded ten songs for Brunswick Records in Chicago in 1929. Justice was heavily influenced by black musicians, particularly Luke Jordan, who recorded in 1927 and 1929 for Victor Records. 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 (with whom he played music and worked as a coal miner in Logan County, West Virginia), 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. Justice recorded four sides ("Guian Valley Waltz" and "Poor Girl's Waltz", "Muskrat Rag" and "Poca River Blues") with the fiddler Reese Jarvis.