diff --git a/doc/source/metastatic.rst b/doc/source/metastatic.rst
index a01a8986d..a518aa22c 100644
--- a/doc/source/metastatic.rst
+++ b/doc/source/metastatic.rst
@@ -88,8 +88,14 @@ itself, which is "meta".
        .. attr:: node-attributes
           :type: dict
 
-          A dictionary of key-value pairs that will be stored with the node data
-          in ZooKeeper. The keys and values can be any arbitrary string.
+          A dictionary of key-value pairs that will be stored with the
+          node data in ZooKeeper. The keys and values can be any
+          arbitrary string.
+
+          The metastatic driver will automatically use the values
+          supplied by the backing node as default values.  Any values
+          specified here for top-level dictionary keys will override
+          those supplied by the backing node.
 
        .. attr:: max-servers
           :type: int
diff --git a/nodepool/driver/metastatic/adapter.py b/nodepool/driver/metastatic/adapter.py
index 3569b4bff..e39f9a872 100644
--- a/nodepool/driver/metastatic/adapter.py
+++ b/nodepool/driver/metastatic/adapter.py
@@ -124,6 +124,7 @@ class MetastaticInstance(statemachine.Instance):
             self.connection_port = backing_node.connection_port
             self.connection_type = backing_node.connection_type
             self.host_keys = backing_node.host_keys
+            self.node_attributes = backing_node.attributes
             backing_node_id = backing_node.id
         else:
             backing_node_id = None
diff --git a/nodepool/driver/statemachine.py b/nodepool/driver/statemachine.py
index b3204eac6..f8fbabccc 100644
--- a/nodepool/driver/statemachine.py
+++ b/nodepool/driver/statemachine.py
@@ -173,6 +173,16 @@ class StateMachineNodeLauncher(stats.StatsReporter):
             if hasattr(instance, attr):
                 setattr(node, attr, getattr(instance, attr))
 
+        # As a special case for metastatic, if we got node_attributes
+        # from the backing driver, use them as default values and let
+        # the values from the pool override.
+        instance_node_attrs = getattr(instance, 'node_attributes', None)
+        if instance_node_attrs is not None:
+            attrs = instance_node_attrs.copy()
+            if node.attributes:
+                attrs.update(node.attributes)
+            node.attributes = attrs
+
         self.zk.storeNode(node)
 
     def runDeleteStateMachine(self):
@@ -991,6 +1001,12 @@ class Instance:
     * connection_port: str
     * connection_type: str
     * host_keys: [str]
+
+    This is extremely optional, in fact, it's difficult to imagine
+    that it's useful for anything other than the metastatic driver:
+
+    * node_attributes: dict
+
     """
     def __init__(self):
         self.ready = False
diff --git a/nodepool/tests/unit/test_driver_metastatic.py b/nodepool/tests/unit/test_driver_metastatic.py
index 5b7098aae..7215c5ea0 100644
--- a/nodepool/tests/unit/test_driver_metastatic.py
+++ b/nodepool/tests/unit/test_driver_metastatic.py
@@ -115,6 +115,7 @@ class TestDriverMetastatic(tests.DBTestCase):
             'testattr': 'backing',
         })
         self.assertEqual(node1.attributes, {
+            'backattr': 'back',
             'metaattr': 'meta',
             'testattr': 'metastatic',
         })
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/metastatic-node-attributes-900d688f5ec9c269.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/metastatic-node-attributes-900d688f5ec9c269.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..298f8dd8f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/metastatic-node-attributes-900d688f5ec9c269.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+---
+features:
+  - |
+    The metastatic driver will now automatically use the
+    `node-attributes` from backing nodes as default values for
+    `node-attributes` of metastatic nodes.  Any `node-attribute`
+    values specified in the metastatic pool config will override those
+    from the backing node.