Songfacts®:

• Here, Noah Kahan sings about a long-distance relationship that didn't work out. He feels isolated from the rest of the world in Vermont, especially with the pandemic situation. Being in a rural area, he refers to it as "the sticks." This makes him ponder what could have been in a different place or time.
• The term "stick season" is commonly used to describe the period in late autumn or early winter after the leaves have fallen from the trees but before the snow has started to accumulate on the ground. During this time, the trees appear "stick-like" without their leaves, and the landscape can seem barren and desolate. The term is often used in regions with deciduous forests, such as the northeastern United States and Canada.
  
  The expression "stick season" applies to the song as Kahan moves from having a special someone in his life to losing them, leaving him feeling like the world around him is now bleak and barren.
• "Stick Season" is the title track of Noah Kahan's third album. During the pandemic, Kahan returned to his hometown in Vermont and composed Stick Season. The album has a stronger folk genre influence than Kahan's previous pop-sounding works because he wanted to honor the folk musicians he listened to during his childhood.
• Kahan wrote "Stick Season" himself and co-produced it with Gabe Simon. Songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Gabe Simon has produced and/or written songs for Lana Del Rey ("Blue Banisters"), James Bay ("Give Me The Reason") and Jessie Murph ("Pray").
• After a teaser of "Stick Season" went viral on TikTok, Kahan released the full version to streaming platforms on July 8, 2022. It became a hit, reaching #12 on Billboard's Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart.
• Stick Season debuted at #14 on the Billboard 200 albums chart in late 2022. It reached a new level on the listing dated June 24, 2023, soaring from the 100th spot to #3.
  
  Several factors contributed to this achievement. First, the release of the deluxe edition Stick Season (We'll All Be Here Forever) earlier in June played a crucial role. This expanded version features seven fresh tracks, including the highly anticipated "Dial Drunk," which had been generating buzz on TikTok.
  
  Moreover, the long-awaited release of the album on vinyl on the same day fueled robust sales numbers. Fans eagerly embraced the opportunity to own a physical copy of Stick Season, further propelling it up the charts.
• Noah Kahan wrote the album during the pandemic. So why did he name the record Stick Season? "Stick season is between fall and the snow," Kahan told NME. "It's a time of transition in the weather, but also in a lot of people's lives. A big part of my childhood was being surrounded by friends and family."
  
  "I thought I was gonna go to college but, instead, I got a record deal," he continued. "I was just at home in Vermont making music and my friends would come home for Thanksgiving, when stick season was in full swing. They would leave, and that loneliness would come back. [During COVID] that feeling of being left behind or out of place was at the forefront of my mind again."
• Following a large-scale exodus of Christmas music from the UK charts in the New Year, "Stick Season" climbed to #1, becoming Kahan's first ever UK chart-topping single.
• Noah Kahan believes Olivia Rodrigo's cover of "Stick Season" for BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge in October 2023 transformed the song, and in a lot of ways his career.
  
  "I think a major pop star like Olivia Rodrigo covering a song that is a little bit more folky and is a little bit more organic sounding legitimized that style of song," he told Consequence, "and my style of songwriting to a really large audience."
• According to the British music copyright collective PPL, "Stick Season" was the most-played track across radio, TV and public places in the UK in 2024.
• Kahan initially started working on the album with a different producer but his manager, who also managed Simon, thought it would be a good idea for Kahan and Simon to team up. There was just one problem: Simon had never worked on folk records before and the idea made him nervous.
  
  "I'm like, 'Do you put banjo on these songs? Is that allowed? Am I allowed to put banjo on a tune?'" he told the Off The Record podcast in 2026. "And so you start putting all these fears and worries behind, and you're like, 'Okay, this is a great songwriter. These are great songs. What do I do to not get in the way of it?'…Honestly, I feel like I did try to do the bare minimum just to support his storytelling, and then I would go 10% more here and 10% more there. I didn't want to get in the way at all. I wanted people to fall in love with Noah, just fall in love with his words. And then once we did that, we could do anything."