Sign up for the Today newsletter
Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.
Noah Kahan’s cover song for a Masters promo has some up in arms. Here’s why.
The video, produced by ESPN, includes Kahan’s rendition of the 1960s song “Georgia On My Mind” by Ray Charles.
A song cover by New England native Noah Kahan featured in a new promotional video for the 2025 Masters golf tournament is sparking backlash from fans.
The video, produced by ESPN, includes Kahan’s rendition of the 1960s song “Georgia On My Mind” by Ray Charles, and is part of the sports channel’s annual marketing campaign leading up to the tournament. Kahan’s cover marks the channel’s sixth variation of Charles’s song.
“From today until the day we pull into the gates of Augusta National, I promise Georgia will be on my mind,” Kahan said in a recent interview with ESPN.
⛳️ @NoahKahan sat down with ESPN for a behind-the-scenes look at his process recreating Ray Charles’ original studio recording of the classic hit
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) March 24, 2025
Keep up with @ESPNPR across all platforms for more on the feature which will debut Monday, April 7 pic.twitter.com/L1ptflXxRv
A “behind-the-scenes look” at Kahan’s process recreating the original in-studio recording of the song will be released on April 7, the sports channel announced.
Advertisement:
Much of fans’ grumbling seems to stem from Kahan’s lack of southern roots, unlike recent renditions by Tennessee native Kane Brown in 2024 and Georgia-born Leon Bridges in 2023. Kahan is from Strafford, Vermont, while Charles, who passed away in 2004, is from Albany, Georgia.
“For the venue that the masters tournament is, this does not fit,” one X user wrote.
More Noah Kahan:
“No offense to this guy but don’t fix something that’s not broken,” wrote another. “Switch it back.”
ESPN declined a request for comment about the controversy, but ESPN’s Vice President of Live Sports and Audience Expansion, Rachel Epstein, says Kahan was chosen as part of an effort to reach younger viewers.
Advertisement:
“Just knowing that the Masters — certainly Augusta National and ESPN — are constantly looking to engage and reach younger audiences, music just felt like this important and powerful device that we could use … to engage and be relevant with younger audiences,” Epstein told Marketing Brew. “There’s an important needle to thread when you’re trying to engage younger audiences, and if you’re trying too hard, everybody sniffs that out.”
Kahan also has personal connections to the sport and has even been spotted playing golf ahead of his concerts.
“Golf has been therapeutic for me,” Kahan told The Boston Globe earlier this year. “It’s been really the only thing that stayed consistent in my life the past 2 1/2 years. I could be anywhere, just had the biggest show in my life, but I go out and play a round of golf in the morning — and it would humble me, obviously, because I’m terrible — but also it would just feel like it brought me back to a place of Zen and a place of even ground again.”
🎥| Noah playing golf outside the venue tonight right before his show 😭
— Noah Kahan Nation (Live From Fenway) (@NoahKahanNation) July 10, 2024
(via ig: ziregolf, ig stories) pic.twitter.com/r6ltFTcGLN
The grammy-nominated artist took his love for golf a step further when he recently joined Boston Common Golf as an investor in January.
Advertisement:
“I was really grateful for the opportunity to be a part of it, to invest and kind of my first venture into the golf world in this significant way,” Kahan told the Globe.
This year’s Masters Tournament, the first major championship of the season, will take place on April 10-13 at Augusta National Golf Course in Augusta, Georgia.
“I’m actually going to have a chance to be there in person so I’m excited to see [Augusta National Golf Club] up close,” Kahan told ESPN.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com