Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Justin Werner

RIYL

Sparin' Change, Bob Dylan, Jason Mraz, Simeon Flick, Tolan Shaw, Space Shag, Western Collective, Awakening Magic, 3rd Borough, Jalopy Street Orchestra

Influences

Bob Dylan, Harry Chapin, James Taylor, John Mayer
Sponsored

Justin Werner is an folk-rock-blues one man band who moved to San Diego from Boston, MA. "I started out at around 15 years old in Boston as a subway musician with my older brother Thomas," he told the Reader. "My brother and I decided California was the best place to pursue music, so we moved out here as soon as we could in 1999. I was turning 20 and Tom was 32."

The siblings soon found themselves at Mission Beach, performing "Operator" by Jim Croce for a small audience. "We moved into a hotel downtown and got right to work finding gigs and jobs. We played anywhere and everywhere that we could. Within our first week of being in San Diego, Channel 8 News captured footage of us playing 'Cat's In The Cradle' by Harry Chapin on the boardwalk in Mission Beach for Memorial Day as a part of the festivities. That definitely kept us motivated."

The duo recorded an album and made a couple more TV appearances on Channel 8 News with Pat Gaffy, then KUSI Channel 9 for the early morning program in 2000. "We called ourselves Sparin' Change and we titled our first album Sitting Pretty With Mr. Paradise. It was an album about the trials and tribulations of being a starving artist."

After his brother relocated back to the east coast, Werner became a member of Old Man Hands, the Chad Farran Band, Space Shag, Western Collective, Awakening Magic, and Jalopy Street Orchestra.

"In 2008, I formed a band with my good friend Pauli Kipling, aka DJ Apaulo8. We called the band 3rd Borough and were fortunate enough to start working with Mark Boyce from G Love & Special Sauce." The band recorded their first self-titled album in 2009 (released 2010), with guests including G Love, Chali 2na (Jurassic 5), Killah Priest (Wu Tang Clan), C Money and Dela (Slightly Stoopid), DJ Dez (Slum Village), Main Flow (Mood), Nikila Mama Wisdom and Taylor Maiden Space (Goddess Alchemy Project), Gabe Feenberg (Old Man Hands), MC James Dove Mosis, and Chad Farran and Chris McGreal of Superunloader.

Werner has also recorded with Main Flow (in 2010 and 2014) and Lou Evans (2015). He formed a new group called the Western Collective in 2014 with San Diego songwriters Fast Heart Mart, Trent Hancock, Chad Farran, and Jamie Shadowlight. Their first album Hearts and Dreams was nominated for a 2015 San Diego Music Award.

Werner began recording and performing solo. In early 2017, his song "Without a Bang" was heard in the Sharon Stone film Running Wild. Other Werner songs have been heard in films like Dark House and The Wanderers, the webTV show Good Medicine, and the documentary Hope for Haiti.

A new band debuted in 2017, Escape Door, featuring Werner on guitar, harmonica, and lead vocals, with Ross Hendler (from Werner's 2013-2014 band Spaceshag, as well as Jalopy Street Orchestra) on bass and backup vocals, and Josh Benz (Reed Street Sessions) on drums. The group debuted March 11, 2017, at Winstons in Ocean Beach.

Sponsored

Upcoming Local Shows

No shows scheduled

Post a show View show history
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.