Exclusive: Noeline Hofmann Reflects on New EP Purple Gas, Curveballs and the Simple Joys of Her Breakout Year

“Stepping onto the stage for that very first show, it felt like the first step of the rest of my life,” says Noeline Hofmann, recounting her first official tour supporting Charley Crockett this past summer.

In conversation with Holler ahead of the release of her debut EP, the Alberta-bred singer-songwriter is taking a moment to reflect on the last several months of her breakout year, one that is being bookended by the song that first sparked her steady ascent: 'Purple Gas'.

Earlier this year, the haunting prairie ode took hold of listeners soon after being featured on Zach Bryan’s Belting Bronco series, earning Hofmann viral acclaim and, eventually, a feature on Bryan’s The Great American Bar Scene.

37 million streams and counting on Spotify later, it’s seemingly been a nonstop ride for the 20-year-old sensation ever since. “It's been a whirlwind,” she says. “I've definitely watched a lot of my longtime pipe dreams unfold right before my eyes, which is a surreal feeling.”

In just these last few months, she’s hit the road with the likes of Crockett, Turnpike Troubadours, Ryan Bingham, Wyatt Flores and fellow Canadian troubadour Colter Wall, who she describes as having been the “gateway drug” to her Western style. “So many huge, full-circle moments,” she adds. “It's hard to count all the favorite times.”

It has surely been thrilling; however, the road hasn’t always been kind. “We've had some wild curveballs out here,” Hofmann explains. “For instance, actually just a couple of days ago, my drummer broke his ankle. We’ve had to deal with a lot of just random mishaps like that.” With each new tour stop and stage, the veil that shrouded this once-mysterious world of a touring musician is being lifted layer by layer, all for the better. “I've definitely learned a lot about rolling with the punches,” she says.

Along the way, she recorded her debut collection, the 7-track Purple Gas EP, and shared a handful of its honest and heart-worn offerings. So far, all of them – the achy ‘August’, the resilient ‘Lightning in July (Prairie Fire)’, the dazzling ‘Rodeo Junkies’ – have been about the beauties and complexities of the rural life that shaped the young star, a life that is likely a far cry from the one she’s diving head-first into now.

“Maybe I haven't quite had the chance to catch my breath and smell the roses some days,” she admits, “but I think that I've been blessed with so many people who've come into my life over the past year and guided me through, and I'm so lucky for that.”

The roses may have had to go un-whiffed recently, but they haven’t gone unnoticed, Hofmann is making the time to take in the simple pleasures of her life. Her social media has become a diary of such little joys, as she’s taken stock of full moons, daylight drives and long stretches without cell service, old friends, new horizons and lessons for the road ahead.

In addition to reflecting on her breakout year, Hofmann discusses the finer details of her forthcoming EP, Purple Gas, shares the importance of simple pleasures and hints at what’s next on her clear path to stardom.

“I try to be present as much as I can and really try to look for and appreciate those things, because it's easy to get swept up in this kind of day-to-day.”

“Every song is different, truly. Some songs are like a bolt of lightning where maybe it almost feels like you can't take responsibility for them, because they feel like they come from somewhere else.

“Other songs I have to agonize over for a long time and pick away at. Often, songwriting feels like solving a puzzle to me. I'm always writing tidbits down throughout the day, and then sometimes a little phrase or like a concept, or something, kind of gets stuck in my head for a long time, and I'm like searching for the rest of the song.”

“There was a lot of experimentation we had to do. The way we approached [Purple Gas] was very simple. That's what I wanted from the start. I wanted the songs to take their own form.

“I'm a songwriter and a lyricist before anything else. We took a very simple approach and let the songs take on their own life.”

“The song would definitely be ‘Purple Gas’. ‘Purple Gas’ is a song about resilience and that song and ‘Lightning in July (Prairie Fire)’ capture a lot of my attitude towards all of this.”

“We have some exciting festivals coming up for 2025. The only one that's announced is Stagecoach, so we'll be starting off the year strong in April. Otherwise, for me, I’m just excited to get this first project out.”

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