Luke Cipala, a 2018 Ellsworth graduate, may come from a farming community, but that is never where he saw life taking him. When he got a job producing for Mediastash, his boss reeled him into a journey he will never forget.

“He just wanted to tell farmers’ stories without really having an angle,” Cipala said. “Explain how farmers are still making it in this day and age.”

The show “Farms of America” is now in the middle of airing its second season, diving into stories of all different types of farmers throughout the nation. The 30-minute episodes air on the “Ragan and Massey” YouTube channel, which is approaching 40,000 subscribers.

“Each new episode is a new farm. One farm has their own episode. We go in there and we basically tell their story, the hardships, how they’re still successful and some of their philosophies,” Cipala said. “It’s not your typical farming show… It’s not really a story about farming; it’s a story about people.”

While the episodes are all over the country, Cipala said he feels a connection to Ellsworth at each stop.

“It’s pretty funny, because growing up in Ellsworth, obviously there’s a lot of ag around,” Cipala said. “I was never too involved in that. Lived in the country, but it’s pretty cool to share [the stories].

“Whether in California or Maine, this project we’re kind of bringing a little bit of Ellsworth into all of these episodes,” Cipala said. “When I was younger, I would never have seen myself being too involved in farming after high school, but now I feel like I’m so far into it.”

Season 2, Episode 10 of the series, which aired on the channel July 29, took a stop at Wagner’s Sugar Hill, a Wisconsin and Upper Pennsylvania syrup producer. In the episode, the song “Past the Pines” by local band Whitetail is featured.

“Music, I would say, is a really big part in all of these episodes to try to bring out the emotion and tell the story,” Cipala said.

The band, made up of Jared Toenjes, who grew up in Ellsworth, on the bass and vocals, Ryan Rademacher on the drums and Gunnar Hove on the bass and vocals was thrilled to jump on the opportunity. Cipala heard the band during one of their live shows in the area at the Gas-Lite and began to listen to their songs on Spotify when one in particular stuck out.

“It was cool to have our music be broadcast on a national platform,” Toenjes said.

“We spent a lot of time on this song in particular, so it’s really cool that people are going to hear it. It’s really rewarding, and we were super excited when we were told it was a possibility,” Rademacher said.

They said being chosen especially meant a lot because of how much value the series places on the music they choose to fit the episode’s themes.

Because the episode was based in Wisconsin, it was fitting for the local band to have their song featured. Toenjes and Rademacher said it gave their recent releases a second wind.

The band itself plays a mix of country and rock style songs, priding themselves on being comfortable with a lot of different sounds.

“One song isn’t really like another. They’re all pretty different, and that comes from all our backgrounds,” Rademacher said. “That kind of comes across in the music. If you’re listening to our EPs, each song is different from the last.”

Whitetail’s music can be streamed on any music platform by searching the band name and one of their song titles including “Past the Pines” and “Another Day”. The band can be found on Facebook and Instagram at Whitetail_Music, where they post their live show schedules and music updates.

“We play around the Pierce County area quite a bit,” Toenjes said. “We have an awesome show coming up in River Falls on Aug. 29. It’s one of our favorite shows because it’s at Shooter’s in River Falls, it’s a great bar, great environment. Every time we play there, we have a blast, and it seems like everyone else does too.”

Whitetail has a record coming out by October that they stated will be their best work yet.