Songfacts®:

• "Purple Gas" is about life on the Canadian prairie, a place where the horizon seems to stretch on forever. The song was written by indie country singer Noeline Hofman, who trades verses with Zach Bryan. Hofmann's voice adds a powerful counterpoint to Bryan's gruff croon as they share the struggles and determination of surviving on the flatlands.
• Hofmann lives in rural Southern Alberta, Canada, so he knows the life they sing about. Pumpjack checks and baler twine, a temperature of 40 below and a sly thumb of rye - these are the raw materials of "Purple Gas." The title itself, a reference to the dyed, untaxed fuel that keeps the tractors rolling, becomes a potent symbol of this hardscrabble existence.
• The yearning for something more flickers throughout the song. The lyric, "If I weren't a flatland boy, I'd say I'd have a hill" speaks to a desire to push past the horizon, a metaphorical hill to die on.
• The collaboration is a testament to the interconnectedness of the Americana scene. Bryan is known for unearthing hidden gems on his "Belting Bronco" web series, where guests ride and perform on the back of his Ford Bronco. When Hoffman sang "Purple Gas," it was apparently love at first listen. The rest, as they say, is musical history. This reimagining of Hofmann's song dropped on June 7, 2024, and with it, a new voice joined the chorus of the heartland.
  
  "This song brought me to tears the first time I heard it so it was really important for me that Noeline gave me the privilege to sing it with her," Bryan wrote on Social Media. "I have never covered another musician on an album, and it's because I was waiting on someone to write a song like this. Noeline resonates like Gillian Welch to me and Gillian is one of my favorite musicians to ever live; now Noeline is too."