Noah Kahan, often referring to himself as the “Jewish Ed Sheeran,” teamed up with the British pop star this week for a special acoustic set in a Nashville pub. The duo played several songs, including an unreleased track by Sheeran titled “Old Phone.”
In a video shared on Instagram by Ed Sheeran on Tuesday, April 22, the two artists are seen sitting on the floor of Santa’s Pub in Nashville, Tenn., playing acoustic guitars. Together, they performed Kahan’s hit “Stick Season” from 2022, joined by a crowd of fans.
“Loving Vermont, but it’s the season of the sticks/ And I saw your mom, she forgot that I existed,” they sang, with the audience chiming in. “And it’s half my fault, but I just like to play the victim/ I’ll drink alcohol ’til my friends come home for Christmas.”
Sheeran captioned the video, “Shut down @santaspub in Nashville to do dueling songs with @noahkahanmusic. What a night.”
Additional clips from attendees showed the pair also performing “All My Love” and “Dial Drunk” from Kahan’s album “Stick Season,” which reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200. Sheeran invited Kahan to join him on “Old Phone,” commenting, “I recorded this song, I was like, ‘I think it kind of sounds like a Noah Kahan song … this is like a full-circle moment for me.”
Kahan responded, “That’s mind-blowing.”
Sheeran sang, “Conversations with my dead friends/ Messages from all my exes,” a line from “Old Phone,” a track he previously performed on The Tonight Show before its May 2 release, with Kahan accompanying him on guitar. “I kinda think that this was best left/ There, in the past, where it belongs.”
This performance is part of Sheeran’s series of surprise pub appearances leading up to his new album, “Play.” He has also held unannounced concerts at bars in Boston and Nashville. Additionally, Sheeran constructed a fully operational bar named the Old Phone Pub in Ipswich, Mass., to promote his song “Azizam,” which debuted at No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April. He later recreated the pop-up at Coachella, where he performed with artists Shaboozey and Alex Warren, as well as on the Mojave stage.
