A rooster has interrupted Noah Kahan’s train of thought. “Sorry,” he says, collecting himself as he inhales and glances toward the yard of the early20th-century craftsman home in Los Angeles’ West Adams neighborhood where we’re sitting.
Kahan is coming down from the 29-date North American leg of his The Great Divide tour that wrapped 48 hours ago — and exhaustion is, understandably, creeping in. He has three weeks off before heading overseas for 28 more dates across Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, the United Kingdom and Europe, but he’s not expecting much of a break when he makes a brief return to his very well-known home state. “It’s going to be an intense time,” he says, “but it’ll be nice to be in Vermont.”
As Noah Kahan, resolutely normal 29-year-old newlywed, he has a lot of weddings to attend during the time off. As Noah Kahan, stadium-packing folk-pop sensation, he still has a few work obligations too. There’s his Emmys appearance, where he sang “Bridge Over Troubled Water” during the In Memoriam segment, followed by his annual Folk & Fairways golf tournament and headlining concert in Vermont that benefits his mental health nonprofit, The Busyhead Project. This year, the two-day event raised $3 million, boosting the organization’s total to $13 million since launching in 2023. In his last week off, as temperatures in Vermont dip into the 60s, he’s hoping to bust out his fall wardrobe.
“I have a lot of light sweaters and pants that are cool, a lot of beanies,” he says, as if visualizing how cozy he will soon be. “Summer has been great, but I feel like I’ve been touring so much that I’ve kind of missed it. And no matter where I am, it’s just hot. So I’m excited for it to be chilly, get all emo, nostalgic smells, stuff like that.”
Kahan famously captures the feeling of that seasonal shift — which he dubs “late-August angst” — on “End of August,” the opening track of The Great Divide, his acclaimed fourth album that debuted atop the Billboard 200 following its April 24 release. An arguably now more famous line comes right before that, when he declares: “The minute that September hits/I’m going off my medicine.” He did not.
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