Risa Binder’s artist recommendation: “I love listening to different artists based on my mood or what I’m up to on a particular day, so it’s hard to pick just one band to recommend, but there was one band that I played a lot when I was a child and eventually helped shape my songwriting: Fleetwood Mac.

Fleetwood Mac’s lyrics are so universal and powerful. Recently, I was moved by the lyrics from Silver Spring and how they reflected how I was feeling about a recent break up: “Time casts its spell on you but you won’t forget me….You’ll never get away from the sound of a woman that loves you.” Those words gave me comfort knowing that even though we broke up, I would always be in his heart somewhere. I love how music is magical that way. I caught Fleetwood Mac’s live show at Madison Square Garden a couple years ago for the first time and I was blown away. In short, Fleetwood Mac’s sound transcends time.”

Not familiar with Fleetwood Mac? Risa suggests you start here: “Listening to Fleetwood Mac: Greatest Hits always makes me feel good. The track Everywhere is such a happy song. We cover this song in our set and from the moment the bass kicks in, you know the audience is gonna have a great time!”

About our guest author, Risa Binder: Risa grew up in Maryland, but her desire to make it big as a pop star drew her straight to the big lights, first to New York, then LA and then Nashville. Each stop helped her grow and write a feel good bio that you just can’t not wanna root for. After doing the East Coast college circuit, she settled into Nashville and connected with producer Marshall Altman (Ingrid Michaelson, Natasha Bedingfield and Matt Nathanson) on her first album, Paper Heart which featured All The While, a song that helped Risa take the Songwriters Hall of Fame New Writer Award. Following the award, Binder collected praise from the Wall Street Journal and M Magazine and showed her spunk by cold calling a festival director and won the opening spot for James Taylor. Recently she also performed a song from her upcoming EP on CBS This Morning (see below). You can continue to track Risa’s lovable chutzpah at http://www.risabinder.com.