Rominger West

Justis began his musical career in northern Louisiana after leaving the U.S. Army in 1971. He started by singing covers of country artists Waylon Jennings, Jerry Jeff Walker, Willie Nelson, David Allan Cole, and others in the “outlaw” genre. One can refer to the song “Folksinger’s Lament” on the new CD for a tongue-in-cheek history of how it all began. It wasn’t until Mike moved to northern California in 1978 that he began the process of becoming a singer/songwriter. During this time, Mike was listening to a lot of John Prine, Townes Van Zandt, Bob Dylan, and Neil Young, all of whom have had a strong influence on his songwriting. Mike partnered up with musician friends Steven McLane and Kathy Barwick to form “Poetic Justis”, an enduring folk/blues/country group that played in and around the Sacramento area for over 25 years.