West Australian country-blues songwriter Justin Davies returns with his new single, The Library, released on June 19 — a warm, reflective song about memory, missed moments and the quiet intimacy of a connection that never quite became something more.
The Library was written by the Donnybrook-raised Fremantle-based artist as part of a session with the renowned I Heart Songwriting Club. The popular online artistic community attracts songwriters from all over the world, both celebrated and emerging. A topic is given, and within an hour a song is written.
“The topic in this particular case was reading,” Davies recalls. “An image came to my mind of a place in Albany that I’d been to when I was first married. This beautiful old hotel – which has since been knocked down – had a little reading room with high ceilings, a beautiful fireplace and these lovely leather chairs. For whatever reason, I was also thinking about a girl I knew when I was in high school. We used to chat in the library during lunchtime, flirt and swap notes. ‘Terrified’, I think, is how I’d probably describe the way I was feeling at the time. So it was writing about that interesting sort of intimacy, and then thinking ‘what would happen if you bumped into each other in some way, shape or form 20 to 30 years later?’ It’s just tapping into that idea of a sliding door moment.”
‘Meet me in the library, the note said
For a promising conversation
You are sure to spark my wit
and my imagination
We must be quiet, communicate with notes
And a few telling glances
The library is the perfect place
To start our little dances’
Musically, to borrow from the song itself, The Library is warm and inspired. As Davies’ words paint the setting this country blues song drives along in a contemplative yet compelling style, his vocals imbued with fondness and melancholy, pondering what once was and what might have been.
The Library was produced by Peter Oats at his Kitchen Cooked studio, where Justin has recorded his previous singles, Cloudy Thinking, Come To My Way Of Thinking and Stuck. His songs have received airplay throughout the US, UK, Europe and Australia, across some 1300 stations.
As a lifelong guitar player who has come into his own as a songwriter in the last five years, the WAM Song Of The Year nominated Davies is looking forward to taking his library of songs on the road again both as a solo artist and with his band The Bush Bashers throughout WA and the Eastern States in the latter half of 2026.
“Songwriting has been really cathartic,” Davies says. “You can use it to process memories, or old relationships… insights, observations, things that you want to share. I’ve got no desire to write anything about political angst, and I don’t want to write stuff which is negative or pulls people down. I want people to listen to the music I write and feel they have shared in something.”
Catch Justin Davies at The Rec Hotel in Waroona, 21 June and 12 July, Toodyay 18 July and in a north west tour early September. More dates soon.
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