Needtobreathe

by Marisa Brown
Named after the University of Alabama football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant, brothers Bear and Bryant "Bo" Rinehart were born and spent much of their childhood in rural Possum Kingdom, SC, where their pastor father ran a church camp. After moving to nearby Seneca, the two siblings were exposed to a variety of music, and started playing instruments themselves. While at Furman University, Bear, besides being an excellent wide receiver (he won the 2002 Banks McFadden trophy for South Carolina football player of the year), also sang and played the guitar and piano, and started performing on-campus with longtime friend and drummer Joe Stillwell. Bo, who was studying architecture at Clemson, was also a guitarist, and he and bassist Joe Bolt joined the duo to form Needtobreathe. Soon, they had recorded and released their own EPs at Bolt's Plantation Studios (Bolt had received a degree in recording engineering) and started a strenuous tour of Southeastern and Midwestern America. Their hard work paid off when they came to the attention of Atlantic/Lava Records, who signed the band in 2005. In 2006 Needtobreathe released their debut full-length album, Daylight (the cover of which was painted by Bo), recorded in British Heliocentric Studios with Keane producer Andy Green. Tour dates over the year with acts like Train, Collective Soul, and Will Hoge followed before the guys were back in the studio that December to begin work on their follow-up.