NEEDTOBREATHE Hits Theaters One Night Only with New Documentary ‘Into the Mystery’

When most rock bands release a documentary, there’s usually a star-studded premiere with other music industry types, but NEEDTOBREATHE is taking a much more low-key approach with the November 3 release of NEEDTOBREATHE:Into the Mystery, a new documentary chronicling the making of their latest album.

   “We thought about the premiere thing for a second and we didn’t want to get dressed up. We’ll take the family and just sneak into a theater,” frontman Bear Rinehart tells SLN with the characteristic candor that makes the documentary such an engaging look into the band’s creative process and the unique personalities that have made the Grammy-nominated rockers so successful for more than two decades.

      Directed by Chris Phelps, NEEDTOBREATHE: Into the Mystery was produced in partnership with Elektra Records and Foundations Music and is being released theatrically by Fathom Events and Greenwich Entertainment. “I just loved the grit, the way the things looked honestly, the feel of it,” Rinehart says of tapping Phelps to direct.  “He had done some Margo Price stuff and Willie Nelson stuff and we were just looking for this rootsy thing especially being out in Columbia, TN in this kind of old southern house, so he was perfect.  Honestly when we walked into the house, it just looked like his work.” 

   A couple months after the August 2020 release of the band’s seventh album, Out of Body, they decided to rent a house in Columbia, and spend three weeks recording another album. For a band that generally takes a prolonged time to record a new project, this was a different approach, and they began looking for just the right place to camp out and focus on the music. “Honestly it was pretty hard because you’ve got to take into account there are neighbors and we’re going to be up late playing music, plus having enough room for all of us to stay out there,” Rinehart says of seeking the perfect location.  “There were probably five or six places we went and looked at before we settled on that one and even with that one, we were a little bit nervous about neighbors being too close. Luckily, we didn’t have any problem with that.  We literally went to visit the houses and were banging drums in all the rooms to see what it sounded like. That one worked out.”

   The album was released in July and debuted in the top 10 on three Billboard charts. It earned rave reviews from top music publications and fans of country, Christian and rock music all embraced “I Wanna Remember,” an anthemic duet with Carrie Underwood. Rinehart first worked with Underwood when she recruited him to sing on “Nothing but the Blood of Jesus” on her gospel album My Savior.  “I went and sang harmonies, which I don’t do, on her record and it was the most nerve-racking thing,” he admits. “She’s one of the best singers in the world and I felt like I was throwing left-handed in there, so she was really patient and super sweet about it.”

   Underwood returned the favor joining NEEDTOBREATHE on “I Wanna Remember” and also shooting the video with them. “I didn’t send her the song until actually we had gotten back from the house recording and listened to the mix of it,” he says. “I sent her the tracks and she came back really quickly [saying], ‘I love the song! Let’s do it.’”

   The documentary shows Rinehart and NEEDTOBREATHE bandmates Seth Bolt (bass, vocals), Tyler Burkum (guitar), Josh Lovelace (keyboards, vocals) and Randall Harris (drums) working on songs and welcoming special guests to the large white house in the scenic Tennessee countryside. Rinehart shares how he sent Switchfoot’s Jon Foreman a song he was working on and Foreman quickly sent the song back with a second verse and bridge. Then Foreman joined the band to record “Carry Me” as a duet.

   There’s a great scene in the documentary where Foreman joins the band by the campfire one evening for a revealing conversation. “That guy is so sweet and nice,” Rinehart says of Foreman.  “He was great, and we’ve been on tour with him now the last couple of months so that’s been awesome just to get to known him and his family even more.”

   Singer/songwriter Natalie Hemby also joined the band at the Columbia house. She and Rinehart co-wrote “Don’t Throw All the Good Things Away” and Hemby lends her distinctive vocals to the song. “Natalie Hemby was one of my first writes in Nashville and was just so awesome and soulful. I just loved what she’s done,” says Rinehart, a South Carolina native, who now makes his home in Nashville. “And I selfishly was like, ‘We need a girl to sing on this, but we also need someone to help me write the bridge.’ She’s the first one that came to mind. . . She was close enough and kind enough to take the [COVID] test before she came over to hang with us.”

   NEEDTOBREATHE also welcomed former drummer Joe Stillwell, who exited the band in 2012. “The band has changed a lot and I think it was us wanting to show people the spot we’re in now and sort of how much we’re enjoying it and how different than it’s been in several years,” Rinehart says. “It was really cool to bring in Joe. I’ve seen him every couple of years. Getting to hang out with him, and more than that, having him play drums with us was amazing. It was so fun, and we had David Leonard come back and play some piano.”

   Rinehart says the pandemic made it possible to take the time to lock themselves away last fall to record the album and film the documentary while working with co-producer/engineer Konrad Snyder. “It could not have happened if we weren’t off the road. It could not have happened if the pandemic didn’t happen. It could not have happened if my brother hadn’t left the band at the time he did, just all the million things that happened to come together for it to be just like really three weeks of us feeling like we were at camp and having the best time of our lives. So, to have cameras there on top of it we were all stoked. It was like camp honestly. It was that feeling, just playing music all day and then a campfire all night, then repeat the next day.”

   Initially, the band didn’t plan to film a documentary. “We were going to release one song and an episode over the period of a few months. It quickly became ‘I think this is a bigger deal,’” he says. “Once the crew was there it started feeling a little more than just an episode thing or a song by song and turned into a real story. It took a little bit to get our rhythm and doing interviews in between takes and all that stuff, but it ended up just being awesome.”

   The documentary spotlights the individual band members distinct personalities. “We should have made the whole documentary about Randall to be honest with you.  He’s a character,” Rinehart says of their drummer. “He could do his own series for sure.  He’s hilariously funny, super sharp and rarely speaks, but when he does, the room rolls laughing.  We rarely know where he is until it comes time to play and then he’s such a great musician and great player.”

   Into the Mystery also includes vintage footage of the group members as children, including Lovelace serving up a spirited version of “If I Only Had a Brain” from The Wizard of Oz. “You could totally see his personality there,” Rinehart says with a laugh.

   The documentary also addresses the departure of Rinehart’s brother Bo from the band in 2020. “We didn’t want it to be the main story of the movie,” Rinehart says, “but at the same time it would have been crazy to not talk about it because obviously it’s on our minds and we were going through it in some ways. We wanted to be delicate with that. . .We certainly didn’t want it to be mean spirited in any way, just kind of be truthful. It’s hurtful and hard and everybody is trying to figure it out together.”

   When asked if it was hard to determine just how much to reveal in the documentary, Rinehart says, “I really wanted to tell this story in the most authentic way, but you also don’t want to put stuff out there that feels like that would be hurtful to some and especially not giving them a chance to defend themselves and all that, so I think that’s where we drew the line mostly, just trying to be respectful to everybody involved.”

   He thinks NEEDTOBREATHE fans will enjoy seeing behind the scenes. “They’ll love a lot about the personalities and the process of how we approach the recording stuff, but I think mostly just it’s kind of a pretty vulnerable thing.  Nobody was putting on a show. It’s just us hanging out and having a good time. I get too much time on the microphone, so I think the movie will be great for seeing the other guys in action.” 

   Rinehart says they already have songs they are looking forward to recording for the next album, and it’s likely that they’ll find a place to sequester themselves like they did on Into the Mystery. “Getting away from the kids and all the stuff is great for us,” the father of three says of being able to isolate and focus strictly on the music. “I think we definitely will continue that.  The attitude and the way we approached the record hopefully will never change.  We’re in that place in our career where if it’s not fun for us, we don’t want to do it.  That spirit is really great to take into records.”