‘Willing and Able’ serves as one of the many stand-outs from Noah Kahan's stellar 2026 studio album, The Great Divide, with the Vermont native exploring the pivotal theme on the project here as he addresses an old friend he's since lost touch with.

It seemingly finds Kahan delving deeper into the childhood friendship that inspired the artwork for The Great Divide, which features two children running through the lens of a window-pane. On ‘Willing and Able’, Kahan and his friend are in the middle of an argument, with our narrator stressing that he's happy to dig into their issues.

‘Willing and Able’ plays as one of the more subdued offerings from The Great Divide, with Kahan and his producer Aaron Dessner opting for a pared-down, atmospheric composition.

Kahan's vocals are beautifully layered as the song reaches its conclusion, with the ‘Northern Attitude’ hitmaker crooning wistfully across the sparse, emphatic drum pattern.

‘Willing and Able’ feels like one of the many songs on The Great Divide where Kahan is singing to himself from the perspective of his old friend. For instance, the line, “They all say you’re a light, all I see is a shadow / And I’ll see you again in six months, when you need your next song” feels like a cutting assessment of his creative process.

Kahan repeatedly describes how he feels as though he carries around a darkness with him, expressed on The Great Divide through the symbolism of him being a “shadow”.

There's also a satisfying callback to ‘Stick Season’. On that track, Kahan sings, “You’re getting stoned, then kicking rocks”, and on ‘Willing and Able’, he states, “If you wanna kick this rock around”. Throughout this song, he's seemingly stressing to his old friend that he's quite happy to delve into their issues and get it all out on the table, if it means they can put an end to this lingering hostility. Our narrator hints that he'd rather fight like they used to, rather than remaining cold and apathetic. At least then he'll know they still feel something towards one another.

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”.

“Oh when my weight left the room did you take a deep breath?

I stole the beer and drove home, there was only one left

And I wrestle the feelin’ you’re still thinking about that

Wide awake in your room, just seething about that

-

When I make my flight, I’m the devil

But when I stay the night, then we drink

And we stay up and fight about the childhood lie that we both had the courage to leave

-

I’m willing and able

If you wanna kick this rock around

If you’ve got a bone to pick with me

If you’ve got a flag, plant it in the ground, well I’ll stay here ‘til morning

Oh, we can fight like we used to fight

Bony-limbed, red-faced, and teary-eyed

Under the glow of the TV light, I’d be willing and able

-

Look at you leaving again, it’s all you know how to do

Go ahead, take the last of the drinks the world belongs to you

They all say you’re a light, all I see is a shadow

And I’ll see you again in six months, when you need your next song

-

‘Cause if I call you out, I’m an asshole

But I tell the truth when I drink

So come on let’s fight about the childhood lie, we don’t care what the other one thinks

-

I’m willing and able

If you wanna kick this rock around

If you’ve got a bone to pick with me

If you’ve got a flag, plant it in the ground, oh I’ll stay here ‘til morning

Oh, we can fight like we used to fight

Bony-limbed, red-faced, and teary-eyed

Under the glow of the TV light, I wish you could know me

-

And I wish I could know you much more sometimes

Wish I could do nothing with you

Sit in the yard while the day dies, leave it all on the table

And I’ll say I love you and mean it this time

Say I’m sorry for everything else

If we found a way to the other side, I’d be willing and able

-

I’d be willing and able

I’d be willing and able

I’d be willing and able

I’d be willing and able

I’d be willing and able

I’d be willing and able

I’d be willing and able

If you’re willing, I’m able”

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Noah Kahan

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