Yukon's Paris Pick on her yacht rock inspirations

This story is a part of a web series called Music that Matters with CBC Yukon's Airplay host Dave White. Dave will sit down with Yukoners and talk about music that inspires them.

Paris Pick doesn't spend a lot of time sitting still.

She's been a part of the music scene in Yukon for quite a while now, and she pops up all over the place: playing her original material on guitar, or ukulele, and playing bass in other people's bands. 

She's a real force.

So it's a bit surprising to find out she favours a lot of music on the gentler side.

"I've always been a person who enjoyed a wide range of music," she said. "I like so many different things, but these days it's been somewhere between yacht rock and fun kind of party funk.

It's the cheese factor, and I'm a very cheesy person- Paris Pick

"I think a lot of people would be surprised to know I'm not listening to Etta James all day."

Yacht rock, for the uninitiated, is the soft rock often associated with '70s artists like Kenny Loggins or Player.

"It's the cheese factor, and I'm a very cheesy person," said Pick. "It's something about all the silly overdubs and the overkill saxophones. It's amazing."

Pick's first selection, Ned Doheny's A Love Of Your Own, has all those elements.

"I was working at Minto Mine and when I was there I was doing a lot of exploration on the internet to find random artists I had never heard of," she said.

"I love it. It's got 12-string guitar and so many elements of the cheese that I love."

Pick's next choice is a Canadian band she saw during a recent trip to Calgary for the Big Winter Classic festival, Sweet Barry Wine.

"I get excited when I meet a band that's playing now and they're awesome," said Pick. "His melodies, I just love the guy ... I don't think he knows how much I love his band."

Pick's third choice is Brittany Howard, who made a name for herself as the leader of Alabama Shakes but has decided to step out on her own. It's no surprise that a strong performer like Pick appreciates Howard's decision.

"It was cool to see her doing a project that reminds people she is the star of the show, and I like that."

Now, the next choice comes as a bit of a surprise.

"I love Hall and Oates," said Pick. "If Hall and Oates were toilet paper, they'd be three-ply, that's how soft they are."

Finally.

"Dent May is another artist I discovered on the internet," said Pick, referring to the singer who created the wonderfully-named Face Down In The Gutter Of Your Love.

"He produces all his own stuff. He just opened his new studio and I messaged him, and I might go to his studio and make a record with him. Paris goes to America."