Slotting in at Track No. 3 on Noah Kahan's fourth studio album, The Great Divide, ‘American Cars’ finds the Vermont native delving deeper into his forever-altered relationship with his family and home-state in light of his newfound success.

Although we didn't know it at the time, Kahan first teased ‘American Cars’ in the official music video for ‘The Great Divide’ with a playful easter egg. The car's number plate that appears briefly at the petrol station is the same one in the song: “4CB3A”.

‘American Cars’ takes on a more indie-rock-infused sound compared to much of Kahan's past material, with the introduction of the raging electric guitars and furious drum pattern giving this an extra intensity compared to the record's pared-down offerings.

The hook is anthemic and rousing, with Kahan adding touches of banjo into the mix to keep it grounded in the folk sphere. The slightly twangy guitars feel cut from a similar cloth to his beloved Stick Season earworm, ‘She Calls Me Back’, accentuating how The Great Divide feels like a continuation of the narrative started on his 2022 project.

There's a recurring theme throughout The Great Divide of Kahan singing about himself from the perspective of family and friends from home. It feels like ‘American Cars’ is an example of this, with the narrator begging him to return from his numerous tours, recording sessions and glamorous awards shows to heal a “fragile” relationship.

It begins with Kahan admitting that he's been “gaslighting his friends” into thinking he's too busy to hang out, before hinting that he assumes his hometown sees him as having forgotten who he is, as he now drives American cars and wears Ray-Bans.

‘American Cars’ plays as Kahan's family and friends thanking him for finally returning home, with the second verse seemingly being about his father, as he describes a character who has “really lost it”, adding, “He’s been sitting on the porch / Oh ranting like a prophet”. This is just one interpretation, though, with another reading being that this song is from the perspective of one of Kahan's siblings, particularly the line about needing to stay in Vermont so they can look after their mother.

It all implies Kahan feels guilt for moving away to Nashville for a period of time, as he outlines in his Netflix documentary, Out of Body, before deciding to return to Stafford, Vermont. It's also worth highlighting that ’American Cars’ is one of many examples on The Great Divide where Kahan uses driving and car-related imagery to help convey this sense of being in a limbo and liminal space between places. This can show that he feels caught between identities - his ‘real-life’ personality and his global superstar persona - as well as being stuck between his current and his childhood self, and being physically between Nashville and Vermont.

As part of his official The Great Divide album announcement, Kahan shed some illuminating light on what this body of work represents to him, “From a long silence forms a divide, a great expanse demanding attention. I stare across it. I see old friends, my father, my mother, my siblings, my younger self, the great state of Vermont. I want to scream these feelings, to gesticulate wildly at the figures on the other side, but my voice has grown hoarse and muted after years of climbing a ladder towards the wild, spiraling dreams that have materialized in front of me”.

The Vermont native offers insight into his creative process, “Instead, I wrote them down next to a piano in Nashville, next to a pond in Guilford Vermont, in a legendary studio in upstate New York, on a farm with a firetower in Only, Tennessee. The songs are the words I would say if I could. They are the fears I dance with in the moments before I drift off to sleep. The music here is my best attempt to delve deeper into the people, places, and feelings that have made me who I am. I am grateful for all of it, for all of you, for listening to them, if you choose to do so”.

Kahan has repeatedly touched on how challenging he found the writing process for The Great Divide, as the pressure to outdo his magnum opus, Stick Season, weighed on him, something he explored in-depth in his 2026 Netflix documentary, Out of Body.

During an interview with Zach Sang, he reflected on how he managed to overcome his writers’ block, “It was a hugely cathartic experience. I had been so stressed and so lost and was literally thinking about quitting and going to work at my golf course as a divot repair person”, adding, “The Great Divide for me, I’m so proud of, because not only did it come out of a time of great pressure and expectation. I felt like I was fully able to say what I wanted to say in the songs”.

“I was working on a plan

To disappear completely

Gaslighting my friends

Into thinkin’ I was busy

-

Cause if drinking was a day job

I’d be asking for more money

Hell, I never take a day off

And I’m always selling something

-

Headlights, your plates

4CB3A

Didn’t know you drove American cars

Ray-Bans on your face

You’ve been drivin' all day

But you’re here and we’re so grateful you are

-

'Cause you’re gonna fix it

You’re gonna patch it up

'Cause honey we’re fragile

You've always been so tough

You know that I’ve missed you

You always come running back

Whenever I ask

Whenever I ask

-

And I hate to drag you back here

But I think he's really lost it

He’s been sitting on the porch

Oh ranting like a prophet

And I can't stand the nights

Yeah, that dinner time silence

I cut the tension with a knife

And I pray you started drivin’

-

Headlights, your plates

4CB3A

Didn’t know you drove American cars

Ray-Bans on your face

You’ve been drivin' all day

But you’re home, and I’m so grateful you are

-

'Cause you’re gonna fix it

You gotta patch it up

Honey we’re fragile

You always were so tough

You know that I’ve missed you

You always come running back

Whenever I ask

Whenever I ask

-

Make him talk

Make it stop

All I want Is a dialogue

Or we’re drownin’ here

I’ve gotta stay for Mom

-

Make the house a home

You know how to talk

What you did back then

We would talk so much

And it’s fine we don’t

But can you come home

-

'Cause you gotta fix this

You’re gonna patch it up

'Cause baby we’re fragile

You’ve always were so tough

You know that I miss you

You always come running back

Whenever I ask

Whenever I ask

-

You know that I miss you

You always come running back

Whenever I ask

Whenever I ask

Oh, whenever I ask

Oh, whenever I ask

Whenever I ask”

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Noah Kahan

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