The Hunter Brothers’ national tours deepen their kinship with other farmers across Canada

Dusty Hunter (left) and brother JJ behind the stage at the Paris Fair.

By Diane Baltaz

Brothers JJ and Dusty Hunter are “born and raised” farmers with what must be one of Canada’s better-known off farm careers.

They’re the two eldest members of the Hunter Brothers, one of Canada’s most successful country music bands. These brothers, along with siblings Luke, Brock and Ty, collected multiple JUNO and CCMA (Canadian Country Music Association) nominations, Fans’ Choice Awards, have 33 million YouTube views, and draw crowds across Canada. They sang to 20,000 fans nightly at the Calgary Stampede’s over 10 nights in 2024.

Their videos are often set on their farm and around Shaunavon (population 1,800), Saskatchewan with songs such as “What Colour Do you Drive?”, “Burning Down the Barn”, “ “Lost”, “Golden Rules” and “Peace, Love and Country Music,” and their smash hit, “Born and Raised”, some of which are certified gold in Canada.

But the Hunter Brothers identify as farm boys first and foremost – four of them farm on the family’s 20,000-acre land near Shaunavon (population 1800) in southwestern Saskatchewan, located 74 kilometers from the Montana border and 110 kilometers from Swift Current. The exception is Ty, who owns a local coffee shop and recently acquired a theater, but he happily talks about how his farm upbringing impacts his life.

On Aug. 30, the Hunter Brothers performed at the Paris Fair, where JJ and Dusty shared their thoughts about farming with Brant Farms.

The brothers are third generation Saskatchewan farmers on their father’s side; fifth generation on their mother’s.

This year they grew chickpeas, flax, canola, canary seed and grain; the grain was “notably” barley and Durham wheat. “This area is known for its Durham wheat,” added Dusty. The Hunters frequently grow pulses such as lentils, but chose not to do so in 2025.

These crops cover most of the farm’s 20,000 acres, which the brothers say require larger acreages than those in Southern Ontario due to climate. The province has a continental climate characterized by extreme temperatures, low precipitation which mainly falls during the summer and can be variable.

“In Saskatchewan, not many farmers waste the land,” said JJ, adding that part of their farm borders ranchland.

Fans know from their videos that the Hunter’s fields are huge compared to those in Eastern Canada.

”We have a joke about the rumour of someone once seeing a tree on the farm,” said Dusty, laughing, adding that their farm has a few trees, “but it’s not like here in Southern Ontario.”

Farm labour naturally requires that everyone pitches in, but the brothers gravitate towards specific responsibilities.

JJ does much of the spraying, handles many management decisions, and assists Luke who focuses on commodity sales and some finances. Also, according to his brothers, “JJ is very good at breaking things – he breaks things so that Brock (the mechanic) can fix them.”

When he isn’t playing the drums, Dusty “determines the agronomy side of things.” He chooses the seed, the type and amount of inputs, and where to plant the crops. He runs the drill in the spring and enjoys combining.

Luke, the band’s baritone, enjoys driving the grain truck, and using the drill along with handling much of the commodity sales. “Luke and Dad are the jacks of all trades on the farm,” said Dusty.

Fans already know that Brock flies the crop duster that appears in many of their videos, in addition to being the farm’s primary mechanic.

Their father, Lorne, now 70, remains “very involved with the farm”, participates in financial decisions and other tasks, especially when the brothers are on tour. They said that their mother, Norma, “used to do everything Dad asked her to do,” but now focuses on other activities such as baking – especially sourdough -- and singing in a choir.

The Hunters employ six full-time people who are especially helpful when the brothers are on tour.

The drought which affected approximately 71 per cent of Canada formed the basis of what Dusty called “a strange crop year.”

“We were initially ‘caught up’ in the drought,” said Dusty. “Then we got late rains. That put us in a weird position after taking off our Durham wheat because the other crops began to re-grow.”

“First, it was so dry and then so wet – it’s something that our father or other older farmers haven’t seen before,” added JJ. “Last year it was so dry that we finished harvest by September and this year we’ve barely started.”

Irregular weather patterns complicate the setting of dates for their music gigs, which often require travel. The Hunters try to work around planting and harvest schedules as best as they can. Balancing farm duties with music is challenging, although Dusty said that past experience provides “rough guidelines” for timing certain activities.

“We are juggling the two, and we try to be as fluid as possible,” said Dusty. “But as you know, farming is not when you want to do it but when you need to do it.”

There is a plus side to this balancing act according to JJ. “We embrace this fact as a part of our story—the fans get it. Our farming connects to the people: if we say that we were on the combine until 11 p.m. last night before flying out to come here, they connect with it.”

So why do they still farm?

“Our roots are there,” answered JJ.

“It’s a way of life,” said Dusty. “I have a young family to raise and we live in a small town. It provides for our kids as well, although sometimes farming is a challenging way to make a living. There are easier ways, but it’s a solid way -- we have land to walk on and we supply food for the world.”

“If there was no music, the human race would continue, but if there were no farmers, the world would be in trouble,” added Dusty.

But then there are commodity prices in a world with changing economic outlooks, something that JJ said the five brothers discussed while en route to Brant County.

“What’s interesting about farming right now are the rising grocery prices but we as farmers are getting lower prices,” said Dusty. “It’s strange how a loaf of bread uses the same amount of wheat, but the price of it rises substantially…. Yet farming is an industry that you love doing.”

Both brothers laud developments in farm technology such as new tillage methods and crop mapping micro-nutrients within fields for improving agriculture and reducing input costs. The prairie practice of only farming half of one’s land and leaving the balance in summer fallow have yielded to new methods of building up organic matter.

“Farming is going in a healthier direction with technological advancements, although technology still has its drawbacks,” said Dusty. “We are farming better than ever before.”

They laughed when asked about their impressions of Ontario farms.

“It’s better land; you’ve better rain here!” said JJ. “Farming is so different out this way; the farms are so much smaller. Out west, farms must be bigger as input costs are going through the roof, we need more land to spread out the risk over the acres.”

Their trans-Canadian tours widened their boundaries of living in a farm community.

JJ admitted to previously believing the mainstream media stereotype of southern Ontario as consisting of large cities, notably Toronto. But a stay at a farm outside Toronto during a promotional event early in their career changed that.

“We saw that there is a whole community like us – we’ve got a kinship on the farming side and on the music side,” said JJ. “It’s small town --we’re hitting a greater group of people here, compared to the perception that Western Canada is the farming area of the nation. We learned this through our music exposures. Our music gives us travel opportunities and see places that we wouldn’t have otherwise.”

“We feel a kinship with Ontario and the rest of Canada, which is why we like the fair venue,” said Dusty. “Before coming here, I googled the Paris Fair and said, ‘Hey! We’re going to be with our people!’ here’s something about coming to a fair to perform.”

“I feel blessed to be involved in two different industries that are very different from each other. We share in one that is misunderstood; therefore, I am glad about being able to talk about it. We do take much pride in being part of the task of feeding the world and one bringing hope and joy to another,” concluded Dusty.

Before returning home, the Hunter Brothers were scheduled to appear in the TV show, Family Feud in Toronto after the Paris concert.