With gatherings restricted, musician says COVID-19 results in loss of pay and passion

J.J. Hunter is used to spending summers working on the farm and performing for thousands of country music fans but COVID-19 is throwing at least one of those into limbo.

Hunter and his four brothers – Luke, Ty, Brock and Dusty – make up Hunter Brothers, a Saskatchewan country music act.

With large group events likely to be restricted for the foreseeable future due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hunter said it will make things tough for a lot of bands.

“As an artist, it’s a tough thing. The touring is financially where your business is able to stay afloat,” Hunter told the Greg Morgan Morning Show last week.

“Just with the way the world has gone with music with streaming and not as many record sales, the touring becomes vitally important for the livelihood of artists. So from an economic standpoint, (not being able to perform live) is really, really tough.”

Hunter said not getting out and performing might hurt more than the financial aspects of losing out on touring.

“When you get to hit the stage and interact with people in that live element, that’s something (you live for),” he said. “We can’t wait for every summer to come around when we get to do festivals and be out on the road with people.”

Hunter also said it’s more than just the artists feeling the crunch due to COVID-19.

“It’s also management companies and the record labels,” he said. “Management live on the artist being out and doing shows and being in the public and doing all of that. It’s affecting the industry in a big way and when you have these festivals that are going to have to miss a year, how does that affect them long term?”

But J.J. and his brothers don’t just rely on their music to pay the bills. They also work on the family farm near Shaunavon.

“There’s no better quarantine than 16- or 20-hour days out on a tractor by yourself. As far as seeding plans are concerned, we’re moving forward as per usual,” Hunter said.

Hunter said there is some concern due to the unknowns of what the future prices of crops are going to be.

“Those are question marks that we don’t know but at the same time we’re moving ahead with getting the crop in the ground,” he said. “It’s still wet down where we’re at so we’re a few days away from getting in the field yet.”

For the brothers, having to practise social distancing has been a weird feeling for them.

“For our whole lives we’ve done virtually everything together,” Hunter said. “Yes, we’ve got married and had families but from a work perspective, whether it’s the farm or music, we’re still used to interacting basically every day.”

On Thursday, the Government of Saskatchewan announced a plan to begin reopening the province’s businesses. It will take place over the course of a five-phase plan.