Paige King Johnson's "Homes In The Hometowns"

​​Paige King Johnson has been given the very special opportunity to combine her two passions: music and agriculture. As the first Musical Ambassador for the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services' "Got to Be NC" Campaign, Paige is getting to shine light on how music and agriculture both have the power to serve communities and touch lives.

Her new music video for "Homes in the Hometowns" was recorded at one of the "Got to Be NC" family partners' farm in North Carolina. Of the experience, Paige says, "We were picky about where we wanted to be, and obviously we wanted somebody that had been involved with everything they've been doing for farm families. We were able to involve a lot of other different groups of people who helped bring along the tractor, who helped bring along all the different things that we used."

For Paige, it was a really special project of trying to capture the feeling of nostalgia because whenever people think about agriculture, there is a lot of history in it. "There's generations and generations of families involved," she says. "There were elements of bringing back the "Good Ol' Days" as well as trying to bring in these modern elements, and pairing that with the production of the song."

This is the first time they've ever had a musical artist or anyone in the spotlight to be an ambassador for "Got to Be NC." As a kid who was in 4-H and FFA, Paige tells people, "Agriculture is the only thing in my life that has taken up more time than music. It's so nice to finally find a place where those two worlds are colliding, and providing me a space to share my passion with people and inspire kids and hopefully lead more people towards agribusiness or any agriculture career."

As part of the ambassadorship, Paige is going into high schools and talking to kids in the FFA classes and the music classes and giving them a look into what "Got to Be NC" is doing and the Department of Agriculture. She works to highlight that agriculture and the farmers out there are the people who are keeping us fed.

They recently announced the launch of a state-wide talent competition in North Carolina for school-aged kids to find some rural talent. It's going to be kicking off in September, and the first-ever "North Carolina Ag Star" will be crowned next year.

The goal is to inspire some of the music kids to sway more towards agriculture and get the agriculture kids to sway more towards music. To educate both sides of the spectrum on the importance of FFA and to find a world where the two mix together.