Dick Justice (Rural Guitar Folk Traveler Series, Vol. 1)

Guitarist and educator Cameron Knowler shares 24 pages of old-time guitar gold. Learn nine tunes from the repertoire of pioneering country guitarist Dick Justice:

• E Blues
• Cocaine
• Guian Valley Waltz
• Henry Lee
• Little Lulie
• Muskrat Rag
• One Cold December Day
• Poca River Blues
• Poor Girl's Waltz

There is very little known about Henry Franklin Richard “Dick” Justice (1903-1962) and his life on earth other than that he was a coal miner who learned to play around Black musicians in his community of Logan County, West Virginia. Justice recorded ten songs in Chicago in May 1929, four of which featured fiddler Reese Jarvis. His rendition of “Henry Lee,” included here, was featured in Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music and is perhaps his best-known work.

As with Knowler’s other publications (see Guitars Have Feelings Too and Listen to My Noise: The Guitar Stylings of George Riley Puckett), you will come away with perspectives that allow the past to be creatively interpreted and applied to modern playing styles. His new Folk Traveler series is aimed at giving readers a quick look at some of Rural Guitar’s favorite stylists.

Check out Cameron Knowler’s lessons for Acoustic Guitar magazine here.