Kelsea Ballerini Shares Sweet Story About ‘Good Human’ Noah Kahan

Some friends are there for you no matter what. They support you, even when it’s a last-minute ask. For former “The Voice” coach Kelsea Ballerini, that friend is her “Cowboys Cry Too” collaborator, Noah Kahan.

“I adore Noah,” she told People. “I got to know him as an artist and a collaborator, but now we’re dear friends and I just can’t say enough about the human being that he is,” Ballerini, 31, says. “He’s a good human.”

Kahan has come through for Ballerini on numerous occasions. She recalled it was no different when she asked him to perform with her at CMA Fest — just a few days before the event.

Kelsea Ballerini Shares How She Got Noah Kahan to Join Her at CMA Fest

“It’s funny because for CMA fest, we’ve done so much together and I’ve called in to ask him to do the Variety [Power of Women] event with me and all this stuff,” she recalled. “So I almost felt like I didn’t want to bother him.”

So the “Patterns” singer was hesitant to contact him, but finally did, with just four days until the show. “And so I texted him on the Monday, we played on the Friday, and I was like, ‘I’m sure the answer is you want to be a hermit right now, but just in case, do you want to come play CMA Fest?'” she said. “He was like, ‘I’ve never done CMA Fest. I’ve never played a stadium.’ I was like, ‘Didn’t you headline Fenway?’ He was like, ‘Yeah, but a proper football stadium.'”

Kahan took a few days to think about it. At the last second, he agreed, to Ballerini’s relief and delight. But things don’t go as planned. She knew when the weather forced her to end her performance early that there was only one thing to do.

“And so we were able to play our song… and then my set got cut short because of the rain, but I was like, ‘You came all the way down here with your friends and your family. We have to do “Stick Season.”‘

Ballerini calls Kahan “just a joy to be on stage with. And yeah, I really adore him. He has that ‘I’m just happy to be here’ mentality, which I love,” she gushed.

Ballerini & Boyfriend Double Date With Kahan & Fiancée

Kahan and Ballerini first met at the 2024 Grammy Awards. “I fangirled him when I met him at the Grammys,” she said on the Wayne D Show. “And he was like, ‘hey, how long ago did you put out “Peter Pan?'” She mimicked a happy and shocked face, which was how she felt, realizing he knew her music. When she began working on “Cowboys Cry Too,” she said that she immediately thought of him and asked him to collaborate on the song.

Since then, the pair’s working relationship has evolved into a sweet friendship. On April 29, she and boyfriend Chase Stokes were spotted on a double date with Kahan and his fiancée, Brenna Nolan. The foursome was taking in the sights at Dollywood, and she and Kahan posted a video and photos of the group on rides.

The “Stick Season” singer is obviously just as fond of Ballerini. Before introducing her at the Variety Power of Women event, he called her “extraordinarily talented” and an “inspiration.”