Most songwriters mellow with time. Nate Logston sharpens his pen. With “I Had Once”—the lead single from his upcoming album Hell Bent—Logston offers not a wistful glance backward but a clear-eyed self-audit, set against swinging acoustic guitars, hushed electric lines, and the warm ache of Sheldon Quick’s trumpet. It’s a midlife dispatch that resists nostalgia, trading sentimentality for surgical honesty.
The song unfolds as a kind of marital ledger, balancing fault and gratitude in equal measure. Logston doesn’t traffic in bitterness or blame; instead, he writes from the uneasy truth that love endures only when its flaws are acknowledged. “We actually have a great relationship,” he insists off-mic, but in the verses, he lets slip the little stumbles and moments of pride-swallowing that make that possible. The interplay between his grounded vocal and Quick’s soaring trumpet creates an emotional seesaw—hope rising as confession pulls it back down.
Recorded at Altamira Studios and mastered by Patricia Sullivan (Bernie Grundman Mastering), “I Had Once” rewards patient listening. Robert Shelton’s mix leaves space for the smallest details—Martina Barakoska’s intuitive drumming, Carly Bond’s barely-there electric phrases, Andrew Maguire’s percussive punctuation—to reveal themselves like memories you didn’t realize you’d kept. This is music built for headphones, not to show off production tricks, but to let the intimacy land in full.
At a stage in life when many artists lean into comfort, Logston is leaning into risk. Self-producing much of Hell Bent, releasing singles on his own terms, and experimenting on SoundCloud, he sidesteps trends in favor of work that feels lived-in and uncompromised. “The writing doesn’t stop,” he says—and listening to “I Had Once”, it’s clear he means it.
There’s a quiet defiance here, the kind that doesn’t shout its rebellion but carries it in every unvarnished line. In an era where playlists chase algorithmic hooks, Logston’s song stands like a hand-written letter—personal, deliberate, and impossible to skim.
By the time “I Had Once” fades, you’re left with the sense you’ve been trusted with something private—and the quiet urge to hear it again, just to be sure you caught every word.
Stream “I Had Once” from the album Hell Bent—available now. Connect @NateLogstonMusic.