A Dirty Dozen with LEANNE BINDER – November 2025

Photo credit: Every Angle Photography

According to a recent press release: “Leanne grew up in Youngstown, Ohio, accepted into a college-level opera program at 12 and at Ohio State by 17, only to have her voice nearly destroyed by the process. Walking away to save it, she rebuilt everything from scratch, retraining her instrument, writing her own songs, and finding her lane in rock, blues, and soul. From near-miss label deals and wild industry detours (including a stolen song that resurfaced in an Obama-era film) to carving out an independent career across the U.S. and Europe, she has steered her own ship the entire way. That arc gives her the rare mix of technical depth, road mileage, and hard-won perspective that makes for a strong, substantive conversation. I Got Something to Say is the clearest document of that yet: a seven-track set that leans into big vocals, lived experience, and unvarnished emotion, shaped in collaboration with Grammy-winning producer Lee J. Turner. Songs like “Little Bitta” and “Drinking Stars” tap into the Zeppelin/Joplin side of her DNA, while “Let It Pour” and “Broken Things” show the bruised, reflective edge that has been resonating with programmers and listeners.” We get Leanne to discuss new music, influences, and more…

1. Tell us a little about your latest release. What might a fan or listener not grab the first or second time they listen through? Are there any hidden nuggets you put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?

These songs are a very personal journey. I didn’t realize when I was writing it but when I put the songs together my life appeared in front of me. Sometimes when you are writing you are just trying to be honest in lyrics and music, you are creating in the moment. That’s how most of this was written, either in the studio or on my bed at 3 am. I put the song list together and realized the story that was being told was MY story, the story of a dreamer that refuses to give up, a person proud of her power, yet scared and a little broken by life at the same time. If you listen carefully every song has some sort of redemption or hope in the lyrics. Not only do the songs tell of my walk in life but the Nugget is in the title of the EP. My album titles have this very weird timeline thread running from one to the next and it manifests from title to title.

2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?

I think music was always in ME. I would lay on the floor for hours and listen to my parents record collection. I was absorbed into all of it. It didn’t matter what genre, if it made me feel something I loved it. I started singing at a very young age and was studying at the university in opera by the age of 12, but a pivotal moment came when I saw my first rock concert as a young girl. The power, the lights, they pyro’s, the vocals lifted up and held by huge guitars, drums and keyboards. I was HOOKED! I remember thinking… THIS is what I am going to do for the rest of my life. And I am…

3. Building on that, is there a specific song, album, performer, or live show that guided your musical taste.

Wow, that’s a tough one. I was definitely molded by Led Zeppelin, Queen, Meatloaf, Johnny Cash. I love 70’s rock. I love my rock n roll dipped in blues and the bigger the groove the better. But Janis Joplin taught me how to bleed on the microphone. When I found her I found a place where perfection was found in the feel of the performance not by the perfection I had been chasing, and the best magic was when the two disciplines meet. It was a huge lesson and I am eternally grateful for it.

4. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be, and why?

I would love to collaborate with Bruce Springsteen. That gospel infused rock n roll would be a blast! I love everything about the E-Street sound and Bruce as a performer. I want to go down to the Rock n Roll river and get baptized with him!

5. What is your favorite activity when out of the studio and/or not on tour? What do you like to do to unwind?

I love riding horses, I grew up riding and I still find alone time walking through the woods on a horse an amazing lift to my spirit. I also really love just hanging out at home with my pets and my friends & family. A good cocktail and a great laugh is the best!

6. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before? What is the one comparison a reviewer or fan has made that made you cringe or you disagreed with?

I would say that my music is gritty like Joplin & Plant and full of groove. It has a lot of feel and lyrically it is open to interpretation. It means something to me but also I want the listener to find meaning for themselves. The music is meant to connect and meet the listener where they are in their life. Take the message and find your own meaning in it. I had a big manager when I was young tell me that I was way too whiskey voiced and rough, that rock n roll was male dominated and that I should as a female really soften my sound and get more dance driven if I wanted to succeed… I looked him in the eye, told him he’d regret the day he let me walk out of his office and I spun around and walked out the door.

7. When you and your crew are on the road, who cooks, who gets the drinks in, and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?

Ha ha great questions! Cook?!!!!! No one cooks but we do order LOL. I guess if someone had to cook it would be anybody but me… but I can microwave!!! I am pretty good at securing drinks for the bunch of us! I am a whiskey drinker, the guys will drink about anything LOL… and cracking the acoustic guitars out… I would say we are all equally guilty so I would say whoever is closest to the guitar at the time. We all love a good sit around and sing!!

8. When was the last time you were starstruck and who was it?

Oh this is a great story! I was at NAMM in LA doing an endorsement show and after the show I was walking down one of the aisles when out of the corner of my eye I spotted Carmine Appice. Now I LOVE Carmine, I love him on the Cactus albums. I loved him with Rod Stewart, Ozzy, so on and so on… Before I knew what I was doing I sprinted down the aisle and shouted Carmine! He spun around and looked at me. I was gobsmacked… I looked at him and muttered “I love you” then realizing I sounded like an idiot I stammered no I mean I love you… your drumming… I am a huge Cactus fan. He smiled very sweetly at me and I asked him for a picture which he allowed me to take. I have it in my home. The next year I was back working again and ran into him… He remembered me and asked how things were going. We chatted and he took me by the hand and said Hey I want you to meet someone… over we walked and he goes “Leanne meet my brother Vinny.” Someone pinch me this is happening to me?!!! Well that entire experience was wonderful and I never forgot how kind he was to me!

9. What is the best part of being a musician? If you could no longer be a musician for whatever reason, what would be your dream job?

The best part of being a musician for me is the connection on stage. It’s when you create a song (which is also an amazing part) and you get to perform it live and you see the faces of the people who came to see you. The smiles, the tears, whatever it is that they are feeling. The audience and the band and I getting swept up in the emotion of the music and the lyrics. The energy that is produced when everyone in the venue is taken on an incredible journey for a few hours. I want to leave people feeling better for being at one of my shows. I hope that I have helped a few people. If I could no longer be a musician? Wow, that’s tough… I never wanted to be anything else… I think I would want to do something that would help humanity, maybe something that would help animals. I would want to bring joy to people, whatever that may be, as long as I could be creative and could be helpful to the world I would be happy.

10. What is one question you have always wanted an interviewer to ask – and what is the answer? Conversely, what question are you tired of answering?

I would want them to ask who was vocally the most influential musical person in my life. My answer is Mrs. Rosemary Raridon. She saved my voice when people said I may never sing again. She passed away at the age of 90. She not only heard the talent in a little girl but she saved the talent of that same young woman. She saw in me things I couldn’t see in myself. What am I tired of answering? Probably nothing… I am so excited to share stories and thoughts, so when people are interested even if I have said something a million times, if they are asking it means they have never heard the answer, so I don’t mind telling them. What I don’t like answering is if someone asks something negative and expects me to give dirt or dignify an answer. I won’t tolerate meanness or negativity.

11. Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep or you would like to have a “do over,” even if it didn’t change your current situation?

I don’t allow myself to play that game because I like who I am as an artist and as a human being. Everyone can… should of, would of, could of themselves to death. That being said LOL… I do have one little thing I wish I would have had some guidance on and that is when I was 18 I wrote a ballad that I felt was going to be my way into the music industry. My entertainment lawyer at the time called me and said he had played it for a very big female driven Rock act and they wanted to demo it and perhaps cut the song. I didn’t know much about anything at the time but it seemed like what they were willing to pay me for the song wasn’t near enough AND they wanted the publishing on it. So I figured it was a hit song I had written and I said no and kept the song. The song never did what I thought it would do and maybe if I would have gotten out of the way of the song it would have had a life and I would have started my career a little differently than I had thought and it may have put me in a much better direction earlier in my career. Or… maybe it wouldn’t… I guess we will never know.

12. If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?

OK I can’t answer this because I have feelings about a single that was transformative and an album that is and they are not by the same band. So please indulge me. As a young Rock musician I would have wanted to be there when Zep recorded Zep 1 or the ZOSO album. I played them til I wore them out. The genius in all of the albums is unfathomable! The lyrics, Plant’s vocals are forged into my soul. BUT… as a young opera singer as a wee little girl… Freddie Mercury, QUEEN and “Bohemian Rhapsody” were EVERYTHING… I would lay on the floor and get lost in the voice that was Freddie and get swallowed up by the classical rock opera that was the band and “Rhapsody.” God Save The Queen <3

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Category: Interviews