R.W. Hampton’s new single, “Who?”, was written from the heart of a question that has shaped his life and the lives of so many families across rural America: who is going to live out in the country when everybody else moves to town? The song — one of the first pieces of new music R.W. has shared in over a decade — speaks to the struggles facing ranching and farming families who carry on traditions as the world around them changes.

Across the United States, that struggle is more than a theme — it’s a reality reflected in the data. According to the most recent USDA Census of Agriculture, the number of U.S. farms and ranches has continued to decline, with the total falling to around 1.88 million in 2024, down from about 1.90 million in 2022 and an even larger drop from previous decades. This decline represents a long-term trend of fewer and fewer family operations remaining in agriculture while average farm size grows slightly as operations consolidate.

In the five years between 2017 and 2022 alone, the U.S. lost more than 140,000 farms and ranches — a loss of about 7% of operations and more than 20 million acres of agricultural land — underscoring the very concerns that this song voices.

For R.W., “Who?” isn’t just lyrics. It’s a reflection of decades on the land — the mornings, the seasons, the risk, the beauty, the communities at stake and the very question of whether the next generation will carry this life forward. Through his music and his own work on ranches as a cowboy, and now as a ranch owner in northeastern New Mexico, R.W. continues to bear witness to a Western way of life that he hopes will endure.

The new single and its official music video are now available — we hope you will give it a listen, think about what we’ve got left, and to remember those who are still choosing to stay.

Watch and listen now!