The Canadian country singer’s ballad is set to appear on Bryan’s next album
Up until today, not many music fans knew the name Noeline Hofmann. That’s to be expected: the 20-year-old indie country singer lives the rural life in Southern Alberta, Canada, and only recently appeared on the radar of the music industry. Credit at least a little bit of that awareness to Zach Bryan.
Bryan recruited Hofmann for his Belting Bronco web series, in which artists perform in the back of the songwriter’s Ford. For Hofmann, that meant singing her song “Purple Gas,” a ballad about life on the Canadian prairie (“purple gas” refers to a type of untaxed fuel, dyed purple, for use in farm equipment and trucks).
As the story goes, Bryan apparently flipped and recruited Hofmann to record the song as a duet. The pair dropped their rendition of “Purple Gas” on Friday, and it’s slated to appear on Bryan’s next album, The Great American Bar Scene.
Earlier this month, Bryan gave the live debut of two other songs on the album, one titled “28” and the other “Pink Skies.” The latter just landed at Number One on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart and debuted at Number 3 on Hot Country Songs.
Bryan is currently on the road with his Quittin Time tour, which kicked off in March in Chicago with surprise guest Kacey Musgraves. A show in Brooklyn featured a cameo by Bruce Springsteen.
Hofmann, meanwhile, is touring across Canada and the U.S. this summer. She’ll open dates for Charley Crockett in June before joining Wyatt Flores in July and August.