Logan Pilcher: Bringing Acoustic Indie from Nashville to Pensacola

Logan Pilcher had been on my radar as a must-see artist since I moved to Pensacola in 2021. I found out about him through some friends, who regard him as one of the best indie folk/indie pop artists Pensacola has had the chance to host. After listening through his discography and watching him perform in different venues around the area, I knew he was going to be one of my favorite local artists. The only thing was, Pilcher lived in Georgia, then Nashville, which meant that seeing him play live was a rare gift. While seeing Pilcher perform live is still a gift, the panhandle community doesn’t have to consider his shows a rarity anymore: Pilcher is now, officially, a Pensacola resident. 

Although Pilcher moved to Pensacola over the summer, he was by no means a stranger to the area, or Florida itself for that matter. Pilcher moved from Ellaville, Georgia to Walton County right after high school to intern at a church as a videographer, intending to pursue the traditional career route (essentially, the route that ensured job stability). Although he eventually got hired on by the church and worked as a videographer for a few years, he knew that his heart wasn’t fully in the videographer business; the hard part, though, was nailing down where exactly his passion lay. Although it took some time, Pilcher eventually realized what his calling truly was: music, specifically songwriting.

Pilcher had immediately begun composing music when he learned to play the guitar as a kid, but his songwriting consistency rapidly increased thanks to a challenge he made with a roommate during his time as a videographer. The challenge was to write at least three songs a week for months at a time, with the goal being to perform those songs each week at an open mic hosted just down the street from where he lived. This challenge helped Pilcher shape his unique voice as a songwriter and performer, which eventually culminated in the release of his first EP, Ever After Always.

Since the release of  Ever After Always, Pilcher has released a variety of EPs, singles, and an album that explore many different genres. Ever After Always captures the essence of soft, sentimental indie folk through its primarily acoustic instrumentation, as well as its cinematic crescendos in pieces such as The End, which meshes perfectly with Pilcher’s chapter of life during the production of the inaugural EP. When discussing the themes that drove Ever After Always, Pilcher noted that he leaned into a “lonely boy” sort of mood, which is shown through the EP’s hopeless-romantic undertones. 

His next releases still lean into the previously established bedroom pop/ indie folk sound, but the themes noticeably shift away from yearning and instead focus on sentiments that drive a relationship, which marks the beginning of his new life with his girlfriend, and now wife, Jordan. Pilcher expanded on how having that love he previously dreamed about affected his songwriting, saying that his songs are a lot more focused on real-world themes since he has “a lot more to lose now.”

Pilcher proceeded to experiment with different instruments and sounds as the years went on, both in his solo career and collaborations. An example of this is experimentation can be found in the rock band Pilcher plays in with his friends from the Florida panhandle, Coyco. Pilcher notes that he has quite a few different collaborations in the works, ranging from projects with his brothers to with his own wife, but he is currently in the process of releasing an album, Beautiful Loser. While there have been a few singles from the album released, the song that has stood out to me the most is his piece Bloody and Blue.

Bloody and Blue is essentially the amalgamation of Pilcher’s ranging identity as a songwriter, both in its evolved themes and the story behind its production. The song itself has technically been in the works since 2017, although it only really existed as a guitar riff for most of its life. Pilcher would try to write a song around the riff, but every attempt he made would fall flat due to it never feeling right.

While he was in the process of recording pieces for his upcoming album, Pilcher tried yet again to make a song from the impossible riff, but this time, something just clicked; in a turn of events, Pilcher was able to write a song around the riff in one day. With that miracle, Bloody and Blue was born, essentially as an emblem of Pilcher’s artistic evolution. 

Bloody and Blue also presents Pilcher’s thematic evolution. Love is still very much at the center of Pilcher’s music, but Bloody and Blue expands this subject by looking at it through a more somber lens. Pilcher notes that the intention behind this song is to act not only as a remnant of his art that he’ll be able to show his kids one day, but it also serves as a testament of his love for Jordan, specifically as a piece he would want to leave her if something were ever to happen to him. While the piece sounds relatively upbeat due to the emphasized electric guitar and lighthearted percussion, the lyrics hold true to Pilcher’s roots as a lyricist and offer a sentimental look into Pilcher’s love, and how nothing will be able to break that love, even death. 

You can stay up to date on Pilcher’s music and event dates through his Instagram, @logan_pilcher (keep an eye out especially for a February 2025 album release concert!!). In the meantime, be sure to check out both Pilcher’s new music and his incredible discography on Spotify, Apple Music, or YouTube Music.