Noah Levine & Dylan Jones of the Noah Kahan Band
On the night of July 18, 2024 the Source Audio team witnessed something very special. Hometown hero Noah Kahan stepped on stage for the first of two sold out performances at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts, the legendary home of the Boston Red Sox. We are very happy to report that Source Audio pedals were at the feet of many of Kahan's band members that night.
This was, no doubt, an intensely emotional night for Noah Kahan, a guy who grew up just down the road in nearby Stafford, Vermont. The last two years have seen the meteoric rise in Kahan's career. In a very short time he grew from a well respected club act with a growing fanbase to a Grammy nominated folk-rock sensation. Kahan had already put out two albums when, in July 2022, he released the single Stick Season, followed by a full-length album of the same name. Stick Season marks the moment when his career caught fire and he made the jump from touring 1,000 seat clubs like Boston's Paradise Rock Club to playing sold out shows at Madison Square Garden and Wembley Arena, an appearance on Saturday Night Live, and duet performances with Gracie Abrams, Post Malone, and Olivia Rodrigo to name a few.
Growing up in Vermont, Kahan knows the brutal New England winters all too well. That bleak climate combined with the isolation of a worldwide pandemic were major sources of inspiration for much of the material on Stick Season. It is a record drenched in the spirit and the despair of region. The performance at Fenway Park - a place that many would call the "heart of New England"- was truly a concert for the ages. It's rare that an artist can make a ballpark filled with roughly 38,000 people feel intimate, but heartfelt songs like Northern Attitude, Stick Season, and Homesick spoke directly to this Northeastern crowd. An entire ballpark full of locals screaming along to the lyric, "I'm mean because I grew up in New England" was just one of many powerful moment throughout this magical night.
This was, no doubt, an intensely emotional night for Noah Kahan, a guy who grew up just down the road in nearby Stafford, Vermont. The last two years have seen the meteoric rise in Kahan's career. In a very short time he grew from a well respected club act with a growing fanbase to a Grammy nominated folk-rock sensation. Kahan had already put out two albums when, in July 2022, he released the single Stick Season, followed by a full-length album of the same name. Stick Season marks the moment when his career caught fire and he made the jump from touring 1,000 seat clubs like Boston's Paradise Rock Club to playing sold out shows at Madison Square Garden and Wembley Arena, an appearance on Saturday Night Live, and duet performances with Gracie Abrams, Post Malone, and Olivia Rodrigo to name a few.
Growing up in Vermont, Kahan knows the brutal New England winters all too well. That bleak climate combined with the isolation of a worldwide pandemic were major sources of inspiration for much of the material on Stick Season. It is a record drenched in the spirit and the despair of region. The performance at Fenway Park - a place that many would call the "heart of New England"- was truly a concert for the ages. It's rare that an artist can make a ballpark filled with roughly 38,000 people feel intimate, but heartfelt songs like Northern Attitude, Stick Season, and Homesick spoke directly to this Northeastern crowd. An entire ballpark full of locals screaming along to the lyric, "I'm mean because I grew up in New England" was just one of many powerful moment throughout this magical night.
We are happy to report that Source Audio pedals were at the feet of many of Kahan's band members that night. We need to thank our old friend Alex Bachari for helping to make this happen. Alex has been in Kahan's band since the very beginning, and he has also been a Source Audio endorser the entire time. Alex's bass pedalboard is equipped with several of our pedals, including the ZIO Analog Bass Preamp, the Aftershock Bass Distortion and the EQ2 Programmable Equalizer (Learn more about Alex on his dedicated artist page). Alex also turned his bandmates on to our pedals. Guitarist, Noah Levine and keyboardist Dylan Jones both use Source Audio populated boards.
Noah Levine
Noah Levine has played guitar in Kahan's band since 2022. His unlikely entrance into the band is an inspirational story that reads much like a Hollywood movie script. After graduating high school in Austin, Texas, Noah headed north to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. It was the summer after his first year at Berklee that Noah managed to score a two week internship with Nashville producer Gabe Simon. At that time, Simon was working with Noah Kahan on the album that would eventually become Stick Season. As is often the case, it was a combination of a little luck and a whole lot of talent and practice that changed Levine's life forever. Simon ended up asking Levine to play a guitar solo on the track Homesick, which led to him playing guitar on all of the remaining tracks. Months later Levine got the call from Kahan, asking him to join his touring band. The first leg of the Stick Season tour was a major success and Levine remained in the band, eventually helping co-write the song Dial Drunk. That track made its way onto the extended version of the Stick Season album, Stick Season (We'll All Be Here Forever), and went on to be a massive hit for Kahan, and one of the songs the band played on their now legendary Saturday Night Live performance in December or 2023.
Levine's guitar playing at the Fenway Park show was a thing to behold - soaring solos that stay true to the spirit of each song and consistently elevate the intensity. He described to us how he uses the Source Audio gear in his live rig: "I'm currently running a stereo amp rig with my pedals going into two Category 5 amplifiers (a Tracy, and a Super Style). I use the Gemini [Chorus] very subtly as an 'always on' pedal to add that gorgeous high-end shimmer and widening effect into both amps. I usually put it on Classic mode with a low speed, mid-high depth, mid-high tone, and low mix settings. I genuinely cannot imagine not having one on my board now. For the Collider [Delay+Reverb], I utilize the presets pretty heavily switching between a shorter tailed Hall Reverb and a slightly longer tailed Spring Reverb for the more western-sounding tunes. The shimmer effect is great for the atmospheric musical moments during song transitions and intros." |
Dylan Jones
Dylan Jones is the kind of musician you want in your band, especially if you are a folk-rock phenomenon playing hour and half long shows in arenas around the world. There is not much this guy can't do. During the Fenway performance, Dylan spent the night jumping back and forth between keys (Wurlitzer and Hammond Organ) banjo, guitar, and mandolin, all the while contributing fantastic vocal harmonies. In addition to his role as musical utility man, Dylan took on the duties of Kahan's band leader for the Stick Season tour. Once again, this is a guy that you want in your band.
Growing up in Nashville, Tennessee, Dylan was immersed in a rich musical environment from an early age. He began playing classical piano at age 8, eventually finding his way to jazz. By 13, he was already performing in Nashville clubs with his parents' band. In 2011, Dylan moved to Boston to attend Berklee College of Music, but like many successful musicians, he didn't finish his studies there. Instead, he returned home to complete his degree at Middle Tennessee State University. Not long after that, Dylan began making a living playing music around Nashville, backing up an impressive roster of artists including, Marin Moris, Kip Moore and finally Noah Kahan.
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We were very happy to see a trio of Source Audio pedals sitting on top of Dylan's Wurli! There is nothing quite like the sound of a Wurlitzer, and a Wurlitzer through Source Audio pedals...even better. Dylan is running a stereo rig with a simple pedal line-up: Gemini Chorus into L.A. Lady Overdrive into Collider Delay+Reverb. The pedals actually received quite a bit of face time on the giant video screens that flanked the Fenway stage. (check out the photo snapped from our seats in right field). Not sure if the rest of the audience noticed them, but we certainly did.
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Alex Bachari
This blog would not be complete if we didn't give a shout out to our old friend and Noah Kahan bassist, Alex Bachari. As mention above, if you want to learn more about Alex and his music, check out his Artist Profile page. Alex has a long history with Noah Kahan and also recorded some great music on his own. We also have a long history with Alex, going back to the times he helped us out by playing some killer guitar at our Summer NAMM booth in Nashville.
Alex was nice enough to send us this sweeeeeet photo of his view from the stage during the Fenway Park soundcheck. We got his Source Audio occupied pedalboard in full view. Oh, and look, that's our man Noah Levine in the center of the stage!
Alex was nice enough to send us this sweeeeeet photo of his view from the stage during the Fenway Park soundcheck. We got his Source Audio occupied pedalboard in full view. Oh, and look, that's our man Noah Levine in the center of the stage!
Here is some great news. The Fenway Park shows were recorded and released as a live record! If you're a Kahan fan this is a must-hear, a beautiful documentation of a pair of magical summer nights in Boston! It doesn't look like it's on vinyl yet (we'll keep a lookout for that), but you can check it out on Spotify right now!
Unfortunately, there is no pro-shot footage of the Fenway shows on Youtube, but how about this video shot from the right field stands? Not great quality, but it captures the mood in the room when the band launched into the opening song. And look at that sunset!!!
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Since we're here, how about we take a look at some great footage of Noah K, Noah L, Dylan, and Alex at Austin City Limits. Beautiful venue, Beautiful performance.
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Learn More About Source Audio Pedals Used by Noah Levine, Dylan Jones, and Alex Bachari
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