Country Beat talks with Risa Binder about her latest single, "You Came Along," touring, and more. Read the full piece on CountryBeatMagazine.com HERE.
By Neal Nachman | Posted on August 9, 2018 by Neal Nachman
Singer/Songwriter Risa Binder has been making quite a name for herself since she arrived in Nashville. The country songstress recently released her new single, “You Came Along” and welcomed a new baby girl earlier this year. Her baby girl, Lielle, even made her music video debut in her latest video. The single was co-written by Phil Barton, Lindsay Rimes and LOCASH’s Preston Brust and Chris Lucas. Risa states, “I actually recorded the song almost a year ago, before I knew that I was even pregnant. Luke (Wooten) picked the song and we recorded it. It was a love song to me about my boyfriend or my husband, or people in my life. Then when we decided that it was gonna be the single. The song even had more of a meaning to me, because we found out we were pregnant. The song, ‘You Came Along,’ is now about my daughter, Lielle. It became something even more special than we could have ever imagined.”
Her first EP, “Nashville,” was released in 2014, which was when she first started worked with producer Luke Wooten (Brad Paisley, Dierks Bentley). Since the release of her EP, she has continued to record and release singles. The song, “You Haul,” which was released last year and climbed into the Top 40 on the MusicRow charts. Risa says, “The song came out last June. We released the single, and it went to country radio. It was my first Top 40 on the MusicRow chart, so that was awesome. ‘You Came Along’ was released earlier this year and now it’s climbing the charts. So that’s super exciting.”
Risa has been honing her songwriting craft through the years. When asked about her songwriting process, she says, “I’m a melody chorus girl, so a chorus will come to me if I’m driving or in the shower, or in the weirdest places. I’ll just be like, ‘This is sticking. Let me just record this really quick on my phone.’ And then I’ll have these ideas and I’ll bring them to a write, and maybe I’ll have two or three ideas. Usually a chorus will be first and the last thing to come is the bridge, for whatever reason. It’s a skill though, so if you don’t do it for a while, you need to kind of do it again to get better at it. But you can also start with nothing and just someone will have a vibe on a guitar and you’re like, ‘Ooh, I like that,’ and you’ll start to hear a melody around that. So there’s a bunch of different ways these songs come to be.”
She has been performing a bunch at the legendary Bluebird Cafe in Nashville. Risa says, “I just wrote a new song called ‘In a Church Pew’ at the Bluebird. I haven’t put it out or even recorded it yet, but the Bluebird has a lot of special significance for me. The first time I went there, it was all the Garth Brooks writers, but not Garth Brooks. It changed my whole life hearing the song, ‘The Dance,’ sung by the writer. It changed my perspective on everything. The songwriters sit facing each other and you’re on the outside, listening, and you get ideas to write songs. It’s almost like being in a temple or a church. So I would write down song ideas. It is like the Grand Ole Opry for songwriters.” Risa has been writing songs for her next project, which may include a full record. She says, “We’re 9 to 10 songs into our next project, and I’m not sure we know exactly how we’re releasing it. So far, ‘You Haul’ was a part of that project and so was ‘You Came Along.’ So we released two singles off the project. We haven’t really decided if will we put it out as a full record yet. But the creative process is still kind of the same thing. It’s going in and making the best music you can make and hoping that it gets out there and touches the hearts of people. So the truth is, we don’t know yet what it’s gonna be.”
Risa has created a unique experience for fans that attend her shows. She hosts Sweet and Greets after her shows. She explains, “We do these sweet and greets after the shows, and that’s kind of fun. There will be a meet and greet after these shows. So when you come to my show, it’s definitely a feel good vibe and it’s definitely family friendly and just a good time. At the end, usually I’ll find a vendor to come and join us for a little sweet and greet. It’s something sweet and a way to say thank you to my fans at the end.”
When asked about her biggest accomplishment as of now, she states, “Being able to get my legs on the road on tour opening for Ronnie Milsap. He’s a country legend. We just spent the last year on the road with ‘You Haul.’ I am looking forward to touring more. I have dates this summer. I’m looking for more dates in the fall. The goal is to be on the road as much as we can with a new baby. I’d love to open up for some people that I’ve written with and released songs with, so that’ll be what’s coming down the pike. So it’s exciting. My favorite thing to do is perform, so I’d love to have a healthy touring schedule. That’s kind of where I see myself, opening for larger acts and growing that way. As well as continuing to write and get really more connected in town, because you never know where a song is gonna go.”
via CountryBeatMagazine.com. See the full piece HERE.