Calgary

Alberta country artist travels to Oklahoma to sing for Zach Bryan

An Alberta musician recently had the chance to work with country musician Zach Bryan — and will soon be featured in one of his videos. 

Country artist Noeline Hofmann from Bow Island, Alta., will be featured in online series

Two photos side by side. One is a man taking a photo of a group of people in a vehicle. The other is a close up of a woman in a cowboy hat.
Left, Zach Bryan photographs the musicians during a sound check. Right, a still shot of Noeline Hofmann from a teaser video posted by Bryan. (Nicholas Hofmann/Louie Nice)

An Alberta musician recently had the chance to work with country musician Zach Bryan — and will soon be featured in one of his videos. 

Noeline Hofmann, 20, a country artist from Bow Island, Alta., performed her song Purple Gas for Bryan, which he recorded as part of his The Belting Bronco series. 

LISTEN | A musician from Bow Island just worked with Zach Bryan, one of the biggest names in country music right now: 

"[The song] was inspired by tax-deducted fuel that we have for farmers here in Alberta," Hofmann said on the Calgary Eyeopener

"I was working a ranch job. I got home in October of last year, and I was thinking about that and the effect that experience had on me, and ... the resilient, rural people that that brought me up." 

Prior to filming, she posted a snippet of the song on her Tiktok, which went viral and caught Bryan's attention. 

Bryan's song Something in Orange was in the top five of Canada's most streamed songs in 2023.

A woman holding a guitar takes a selfie with other musicians in the back holding instruments.
From left to right: Noeline Hofmann, Jamie Hamburg, Lucas Ruge-Jones, Louie Nice, and Zephyr Avalon during filming. (Noeline Hofmann)

The Belting Bronco is a series that Bryan does highlighting musicians who perform in the back seat of his Bronco in Oklahoma. 

Hofmann said her song will be the series' episode seven.  

"It was a surreal — definitely surreal — experience. I never, never thought in my wildest dreams that that would happen this year, if ever. But it was great. We had a lot of fun," she said. 

On Instagram, Bryan announced that The Belting Bronco was coming back — and would be kicking off with Hofmann. 

"It was such an honour hearing her sing and getting to record this beautiful song," he wrote. 

Hofmann said since Bryan posted about the upcoming video she's seen a lot of new interest in her and her music, and she's working on new recordings which will be released next year.