Risa Binder – CRAZY TOUR STORIES

In this Crazy Tour Stories segment, the singer-songwriter, Risa Binder, talks about some of her crazy moments from touring. You can check out the feature, after the break.

The first time I ever took a tour bus was nuts. I had flights booked for my band and me to open for Country Legend Ronnie Milsap in Florida. The morning of our flights, it snowed and all of our fights got cancelled. We did some quick thinking, got to the airport, rented a van and started driving to Atlanta— the closest airport to Nashville. We snagged some tickets to fly us out of Atlanta and to the show in Florida, but when we were just 20 minutes outside of Nashville, our flights were CANCELLED!

So, I had a sub drummer named Mitch, who I had never played with before, but he was about to become my guardian angel. Mitch, amidst all the panic, calmly said, “Would you consider taking a tour bus?” I had no idea what the cost of a tour bus was, but I had the cash to pay the band with me that could possibly be used to cover it. Mitch said he knew a driver and could make a phone call…and miraculously…that driver had the ONLY BUS LEFT in Nashville. He asked us to head back to Nashville and said he would meet us at midnight at the Nashville Airport. TOTALLY NUTS. So, we drove back, got supplies, and hopped on the bus.

The craziest thing is that I have a dream board on my wall and had a picture of a tour bus. I looked at that dream board every day and always saw the picture of a tour bus and just thought, “I wonder when my career would take off enough to the point that I would need to rent a tour bus..“ WELL, the Tour Bus that pulled up to The Nashville Airport at midnight to save the day was the EXACT COLOR AND MODEL that I had been looking at for the last year on my dream board.

We hopped on the bus, and a short 16 hours later, we were in Florida opening for Ronnie Milsap…and the final miracle of that day was that Ronnie asked us to continue to tour with him as an opener! Which we did for that next full YEAR! If I had just given up, I would have never had that incredible opportunity.

Keep up with the artist on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!