Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood join Habitat for Humanity project in Edmonton

Country music superstars Garth Brooks and TrishaYearwood were back in Edmonton Monday after playing nine sold-out shows at Rogers Place in February.

This time around, the couple washere to do work of a different kind.

Brooks and Yearwood sported hard hats and steel-toed boots at a construction site in the Meadows neighbourhood. They were among the nearly 1,000 volunteers assisting with the 34th annual Jimmy and RosalynnCarterWork Project through Habitat for Humanity.

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Brooks and Yearwood have been helpingformer U.S. president Jimmy Carter and his wifeRosalynnbuild homes around the world for years.

The Carters' project is building 150 homes across Canada this year for Canada's 150thbirthday. Nearly 70 of those homes are going up in the Edmonton area and are expected to be completed by 2018.

Brooks said it doesn't matter where the builds take place, it's a "spot of love."

"It all kind of looks the same," Brooks said. "Different coloured shirts, hard hats, the sound of hammers and all they're doing is building for people they don't know.How beautiful is that?"

This 150-home projectis the Carters' second-largest.The largest was in thePhilippines, where about 14,000 volunteers built close to 300 homes.

"This has been, Ithink, the best prepared work project we'vebeen in yet. It's obvious how much work has been done before we got here," Carter said.

At 92 and 89 years old, respectively, the former president and his wife don't shy away from hard work.

"We've never been to a project and not come home and said, 'That was the most wonderful experience we've ever had," he said.

AbdoulayeBarry, his wife and their two daughterswill be moving intoone of the homes being built in Edmonton.

"It takes off my shoulders and my daughters' shoulders that burden of paying rent," said Barry, who was also part of the volunteer team on the construction site on Monday.

He said approximately 45 per cent of his salary goes toward rent right now. When his new home is complete, he will pay the mortgage.But since it's throughHabitat for Humanity, it won't be more than 25 per cent of his annual income.