“You know, when I got that notification, it was like, I knew somehow that everything, it was a new chapter — and I’m really very grateful”. In 2023, Noeline Hofmann was working as a ranch hand back home in Alberta, Canada; in 2024 she was recording ‘Purple Gas’, a song she wrote that is now successfully sitting Billboard Top 100, and another year on, Hofmann is standing in The Lexington dressing room about to perform her debut headline show. We both agree, “This year was a great success”.
“Well it’s the first time across the pond in Ireland and the UK so really exciting to have our evening here tonight overseas,” Hofmann’s positivity was cheered on by her band who naturally cracked open a couple of “brewski’s” behind us and politely exited in their matching outfits; joking about how they woke up like that. The family-feeling band joined the crowd to support Gabriella Rose on stage whose voice echoed as a soundtrack to our interview. We swiftly pushed on in the small amount of time we had before Hofmann jumped on stage.
“I’m open to the world around me but then I also, you know am processing my own experiences, so I use both to write”, Noeline Hofmann’s songwriting ability is raw and vulnerable, flip-flopping between story telling inspired by the people around her as well as her own journey. Initially when asked what comes first writing music, Hofmann shies away: “I guess it really depends… but then again I am constantly writing lyrics but I think lyrics before music actually for sure.” This makes sense as she continues, “I’m just writing ideas down as apposed to sitting down to write, I mean sometimes I get lightning bolts of ideas and the songs come when they come”. This is true to the album title track ‘Purple Gas’ which is a key example of a song inspired by the story around her as well as her time working on the ranch referencing a specific gas sold to farmers — ‘Bud light bottle full of ‘bacco spit / Far from the only habit she wished he’d try and quit‘.
Hofmann’s powerhouse vocals mixed with her confidence lures listeners in effortlessly. If you close your eyes you can see yourself dancing, singing and swaying with a collection of riffs, strums and bass strokes flowing along like dancing at a rodeo. Hofmann’s voice commands her tracks, captivating us with charm; leaving us on the brink of anger sometimes and adoration at others.
Noeline never shy’s away from the wonders of her own experiences with her personal super track being ‘The Way You Bring Me To Tears’. “It’s just purely a love song and I was just in love. I was really in love”. There is no denying Hofmann’s ability to write lyrics is a gift from the country gods themselves. Her songs leave no room for misinterpretation, she stares a feeling straight in the eyes and translates it bravely without judgement; ‘I’ll never forget it, the first time/I heard you singing your heart right out to mine / Oh, the way you bring me to tears’.
I asked about Hofmann’s firework moment; the moment Zach Bryan reached out to collaborate on ‘Purple Gas’ and furthermore offered her a place on his ‘Bronco Series’ (a wonderful collection of musicians singing in the back of Bryan’s Ford Bronco — a true image of musical purity, no fluff). Hoffman takes a breath, “I’d been working. I hadn’t even started really to do this. I’d done one trip really for music and trying to meet people making music and began more regionally as a musician and so when that happens, I had felt my life, you know, in the best way turn”.
This is just one of many firework moments Hofmann reassured me during our time backstage chatting about this years festival season and her performance at Stagecoach the crème de la crème for any country artist. “‘It was so fun. Oh my god we had such a blast. We had our showcase set and then the Bud Light stage and then played with Zach later in the night, we really had the most amazing time. That was definitely a bucket list moment, a festival goal for me, I’d actually written that down on a goals list a couple of years ago. It was surreal to have it come to fruition.”Â
Noeline is no stranger to collaborating with legends. She’s opened and toured with Leon Bridges, Wynona Judd, The Mavericks, Turnpike Troubadours, Zach Bryan himself, the list goes on. Hofmann takes her inspiration and experiences with other artists and embraces it. In both performances I got to witness in London she covered Johnny Cash. “We listened to so much Johnny Cash growing up in the house, also of Elvis, CCR a lot of really amazing artists. Johnny Cash is really dear to me and my childhood. I’ve actually been to the museum three times!”
In terms of dream collaborations, this was tricky, Noeline took her time and then: “Gillian Welch, Emmylou Harris, but I would love to go on stage again and record with Wynona and Turnpike. There’s just so many that are an inspiration to me.” Perhaps this was the inspiration behind Hofmann’s most recently released single ‘The Bull Fighter’, a Luke Bells original track.
Noeline and I wrapped up our conversation after a friendly 20 minute warning from management. I congratulated her on her Emerging Act of 2025 award for the American Music Association and she smiled modestly as if shocked that anyone had taken notice. I push a little asking about a new album and if she’s had any of these jolts of lyrical lightening bolts recently whilst on tour, “I am really hoping to get recording here soon, yeah it’s definitely happening, there’s been lots of writing and everything is lining up – it’s coming, it’s coming!”
After giving a firm handshake and apologising for the rush, Hofmann thanked me for taking the time to speak to her. I then headed out to the show. I left with encompassed in a sparkle of Hofmann’s genuine kindness and gratefulness for everything that the last few years have given her. Noeline Hofmann’s songs are powerful, honest and full of life, and so is she!
See Noeline Hoffmans Review from her London Shows here.
