(photo credit: Alyssa Gafjken)
For two full decades, NEEDTOBREATHE has been known as a soulful, powerful band that combines Americana, alternative rock and Southern rock, and fuses it with a strong undercurrent of spiritual and emotional depth. Led by lead singer & songwriter Bear Rinehart, the band has now released 10 albums and have been nominated for Grammy and Billboard Awards. And notably, they have won many GMA Dove Awards for their albums and songs. The band members include Josh Lovelace (keyboards), Tyler Burkum (guitar) and Randall Harris (drums).
NEEDTOBREATHE has recently released their tenth album, The Long Surrender (on MCA Records), which is their first album in three years. The album is an excellent collection of 12 songs, and it was produced by the band with Grammy-winning producer, Dave Cobb, at his studio in Savannah, Georgia. Cobb is known for his work with Chris Stapleton. Brandi Carlile, Jason Isbell and Sturgill Simpson.
The Long Surrender contains such highlights as the title cut “The Long Surrender,” a heartfelt duet with Brandon Coleman of the Red Stray Clays on the song “Momma Loves Me,” plus “Say It Now,” “Sing To Me Savannah” and “Highlands.” Interestingly, the album was mostly recorded live.
Rinehart discusses the making of this album, and his songwriting. “In the beginning I didn’t even think I was writing for a record—I was just writing in a therapeutic way, trying to get my head around what I wanted my life to look like going forward,” Rinehart points out. “There’s always been a guardedness as far as how personal I get in the songs, or how overtly I express certain things, but this time I was writing everything down as I was going through it. It felt like the songs were coming from a different place, and where we ended up almost feels like a whole new band.”
We are pleased to do a new Q&A interview with Bear Rinehart of NEEDTOBREATHE. But before we get started, here’s a brief summary of the band’s albums.
The band started out in Seneca, South Carolina, and was formed in 1998. It was in 2001 that they began to release albums independently, and then they released their first major label album (Daylight, on Lava/Atlantic Records) in 2006. This was followed by their albums The Heat (2007), The Outsiders (2009), The Reckoning (2011), Rivers in the Wasteland (2014), Hard Love (2016), Out of Body (2020), Into the Mystery (2021), Caves (2023) and The Long Surrender (2026).
Here’s the video of NEEDTOBREATHE’s song, “Momma
Loves Me,” which is a duet with the Red Clay Strays.
NEEDTOBREATHE will be launching a major concert tour in August, and will be playing shows across the U.S. including California, Texas, Colorado, Tennessee, Ohio and Illinois.
Here’s our interview with Bear Rinehart:
DK: It’s been three years since the release of your band’s last album, Caves. Can you talk about the band’s journey over the past three years, leading up to the new album?
Bear Rinehart: Yeah, we had a lot of changes—our bass player (Seth Bolt) left; we knew he would be leaving for a few years. We did a farewell tour with him, which changes some of the dynamics, obviously. But I think mostly, this record was not an expectation. We didn’t think we were going to make a record. We had written a bunch of songs, but no plans yet to put it out. It really started with a song we had called “Momma Loves Me,” that we went and did with the Red Clay Strays.
The Red Clay Strays were working with (producer) Dave Cobb for a record, which we were aware of. Honestly, it was just going to be one song. But we went down there and hit it off. I played Dave some of the demos, and he pitched us to come back and said, “Let’s play some music. Let’s see what happens.” Then something kind of magic happened while we got down there. I think you know, life tends to lead the art in my opinion.
We were going through a lot as a band—a lot of personal things that were heavy and out of our control. And I started writing this song, sort of in a healing way to myself. It was what I was going through, and I decided to just take the filter off. And this song started to feel like it could turn into an album. That’s where we looked at Dave and we were like, “I think this seems like a record, right?” And he’s like, “Definitely.” So yeah, it was very spontaneous. A lot of the songs were written in a six-month period, and a lot of the songs got written the day we cut them. So I feel the process just happened to us. It feels like a gift…I really can say that.
DK: I read that the album was mostly recorded live. What was it like to work with a top producer like Dave Cobb?
Here’s the lyric video of NEEDTOBREATHE’s song, “The
Long Surrender.”
Rinehart: Dave has a great studio and gear, but it’s not about the microphones or other stuff—it’s about the performance for him. And I’ve always felt that the best producers were like that. He was like, “Let’s capture what you’re trying to say, what you’re trying to do right now.” I think his belief in us meant a lot, at least to me personally as a songwriter. He showed a crazy belief to me. I would play him a song in the morning and he’s like, “I can feel it, that this means a lot to you. This is a great song. Let’s cut it right now.” And to me, that really helped this band.
DK: Your new album is called The Long Surrender, and the song “The Long Surrender” is the first song on the album. Can you talk about writing this song, and what does the title The Long Surrender mean?
Rinehart: As I was writing the record, I started realizing how much I had seen surrender, which I think is important for every human. I think we’re all powerless in a lot of ways without others, without help, without God…all those things. However we believe that stuff, I think that’s a principle we can all understand. I had thought of it as a stationary place. You get to this place of surrender, or it’s a decision you made, and I started seeing it more as a condition of the heart. I felt it was something I needed to wake up with every day. And I was looking down the long road and that 20 years from now, this is clearly going to be the same thing I’m trying to do. So I think that’s where the long surrender came about. I think that’s where we were as a band, and it made a ton of sense to call the record that and focus in on that lyrically throughout.
DK: One of my favorite songs on your new album is “Momma Loves Me. What’s the story behind this song, and how did you conncect with Brandon Coleman of the Red Clay Strays to sing a duet with him on it?
Rinehart: I think when I first wrote it, my thought was…Man, things are not going that well. I’ve made a mess of things…I’m not proud of a lot of this. I wish I was living my life better. But you know, God still exists and a lot of people still love me (laughs). And I think that simple thought then becomes really powerful because it’s true. And Brandon Coleman has been a buddy of mine for a long time from Alabama. I thought that if anybody would get this song it would be him. I said to him, “Tell me if this song hits you,” and we weren’t through the first chorus and he was like, “This should be in the world.” So it happened really naturally.
Here’s the video of NEEDTOBREATHE’s song, “Say It Now.”
DK: Another song that I like on your new record is “Sing To Me Savannah.” Can you talk about that song?
Rinehart: With “Sing To Me Savannah,” we were making the record in Savannah, which is where Dave’s studio is. It’s different…it’s a change of pace for me. I lived in Charleston for a long time which I feel is fairly similar to that. It’s beautiful, but slow moving. And for us, it’s a lot more private than Nashville, in that I don’t run into as many people. I think the Savannah thing was very peaceful…it felt like we were out on some other planet when we were making the record. We’d go have breakfast in the park and feel like…Man, we can have this unique experience right now without wondering about how anybody else thinks of it. I think Savannah to me, was sort of an image what God is. I was looking for answers while we were down there. And that’s a little bit me asking Savannah to be the moment and the place that we get some of those answers and truth.
DK: Your band is known for blending Christian themes with your music. So how does your religious faith inspire you with your songwriting and the band?
Rinehart: I think it’s changed over the years, to be honest. Faith has always been a big part of me. But I don’t want that to be the reason I’m making the music necessarily. I also don’t pretend to act like every guy in the band believes like I believe. I think the way I’ve approached it has always been about the struggle in that. You know, the difficulty in believing when you see the things you see.
I think on this record, it’s the first time I’ve just taken the filter off completely. Some of these songs are my prayers of like…Man, I can’t do this on my own anymore. You know, I have a group meeting I do that’s like AA (Alcohol Anonymous) based. And so many of those principles, I was living out in other ways in my life, which if you’ve ever been to an AA meeting, they rarely talk about alcohol (laughs). It’s all the things that you’re trying to like surrender to. And so I think to me, that clearly made this record more faith-infused in some way. I decided to write exactly what I was thinking, you know, what I was leaning on in the moment. And I’m really proud of that. I think the tricky part with us has always been, when you say the word Christian, especially with music or anything, people go, “Oh, does that mean politics? Does that mean this?” Like it means none of those things for me. So I think that was always the thing we’ve tried to be careful of, sort of being roped into a bunch of other people’s agenda. So I think where the faith is real, I think it’s worth talking about.
Here’s the audio of NEEDTOBREATHE’s song, “Sing
To Me Savannah.”
DK: Your band has now released 10 albums. So for a new fan who’s just learning about your band now, and they want to hear some of your earlier albums, which albums should they check out first?
Rinehart: That’s super tough, obviously. But I think The Outsiders (released in 2009) was our coming of age as a band, figuring out who we were and what we do. So it’d be hard to not listen to that record. I think the next other record is my favorite record, which is called Into the Mystery (2021), which was a similar situation. This was written during COVID and tracked that way. But yeah, there’s a bunch of stuff out there and it’s a wide base. You know, we’ve been a lot of different types of bands over the years. So that’s a difficult one. Another favorite is The Reckoning (2011).
DK: This summer, your band will be launching a major new concert tour. Can you talk about your live show and your new tour?
Rinehart: For us, the live show has the calling card of this band. There’s a lot of energy, it’s raw. We put a ton of time and thought into putting on a show for people. We’re being really ambitious at this time, in a different way. We’re kind of taking out the video screens and content and all the stuff that we normally do on a big tour, and really trying to make it an intimate evening about the music itself. We thought…What’s the best way you can watch this band and feel every turn, feel every up and down. I’ve been watching a lot of old Joe Cocker live performances. So before there was all this video and stuff that got in the way, how does a band take you on a journey? So there’s a lot of rehearsal involved and all that. I just think we’ll be leaning on the musicality this time around. And we’re really excited about reinterpretating the old material and playing a bunch of the new stuff.
