A genre-hopping musical tour

This story is part of a web series called Music that Matters with CBC Yukon's Airplay host Dave White. Dave sits down with Yukoners to talk about five pieces of music that inspire them. 

Drea Nasager is an unforgettable performer. Her live shows pack enough energy to power a small town, and have also powered her through numerous tours and recordings.

She took the opportunity presented by Music That Matters to share some of the songs that helped form her.

"My Mom was a huge Motown person," she said. "This song, As, has been at every party I've ever hosted, it's defined my whole life and it just takes me back to dancing in the living room with my mom in southern Ontario. She used to do a thing in the car where we'd get money for naming the song, a little more money for the album, a little more money for the year.

"Stevie Wonder made me a lot of money in that station wagon."

Nasager said her second pick was a nod to her father, who emigrated to Canada from Denmark.

"He was a big classical music fan," she said. "I always tried to resist it because when it's forced on you as a youth, it's not really the popular genre of the time. Then that movie Philadelphia came out and that scene where Tom Hanks [plays this song], it broke me as a human, as an artist. It changed my whole mentality about how music moves you."

No one that has seen Nasager play live will be surprised to hear Led Zeppelin is a huge influence on her music, and they wouldn't be surprised to hear she chose the classic track, Babe I'm Gonna Leave You.

"My first concert was Plant and Page ... and they did a nine-minute rendition ot that song," she said. "I didn't know much about Led Zeppelin at that age when I went to see them, and it was the first time I had seen rock that was that sexual, and the control with that voice and the instruments was inspiring."

For her fourth choice, Nasager chose Nirvana's version of the David Bowie song The Man Who Sold The World from their MTV Unplugged record. 

"Nirvana shaped an entire generation, including myself," she said. "I remember when [Kurt Cobain] passed away having a little ceremony with my friends. That whole scene changed everything about how I wanted to be a part of music."

Nasager's final choice was a piece of classic Canadian hip hop: Let Your Backbone Slide by Maestro Fresh Wes.

"I won a dance contest to this song," she said. "I still pull out the moves at parties and stuff. This is me being cool before I knew what cool was."