Say howdy to Noah Kahan and Kelsea Ballerini‘s new duet “Cowboys Cry Too,” which dropped midnight Friday (June 28).
Featuring reflective lyrics, twangy guitar and fiddle, finds the two stars’ voices blending beautifully together with the refrain, “I never knew cowboys cry too.”
“I grew up wishing I could close off the way my dad did,” Kahan sings on his verse, as teased in a clip he posted to Instagram ahead of the song’s release. “‘Cause that man never felt a d–n thing he didn’t wanna feel/ I’ve burned too many miles trying to ride out all the sadness/ But you can’t outdrive pain someday it’s gonna take the wheel.”
The day before the track arrived, Ballerini shared a video on her Story listening to it on her car radio with boyfriend Chase Stokes and their two dogs. “Good morning! ‘Cowboys Cry Too’ is on the radio!” she tells the camera excitedly as the Outer Banks star sings along. “Let’s go!”
Kahan and the “Peter Pan” singer gave fans just two days’ heads-up before “Cowboys Cry Too” dropped, with Ballerini sharing the single’s contemplative cover art on social media. “so proud and excited to release this first song in a new chapter of music,” she wrote Wednesday (June 26).
“Can’t wait for this,” added Kahan, reposting the announcement on his Story.
The emotional duet comes nearly a month and a half after the two musicians teamed up for a joint performance of Ballerini’s “Mountain With a View” and Kahan’s Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hit “Stick Season” at the 2024 Academy of Country Music Awards. In a red-carpet interview with Billboard ahead of the ceremony, Kahan recalled meeting his collaborator for the first time at the Billboard + NMPA Songwriter Awards during Grammy Week in February.
“I kind of felt overwhelmed and out of place,” he said. “[She] made me feel really comfortable, and I think that’s why I was so excited to work with her. Kelsea’s just one of those people that the voice is so special, but the songwriting is so real, and you can see that she lives her songs. I really look up to her and admire her for that.”
Listen to Kahan and Ballerini’s “Cowboys Cry Too” below.