Wilder woods

Years before he learned to transfix a crowd — first as a trophy-winning college football athlete, then as the GRAMMY-nominated, platinum-selling songwriter behind projects like NEEDTOBREATHE and Wilder Woods — Bear Rinehart spent hours at his grandmother's house, captivated by her curio cabinet.

"It was a china cabinet where she'd store her keepsakes, like her first Bible, some porcelain dolls, and football memorabilia," he remembers. "As a kid, I always thought it was a strange thing to keep around… but now, I think a curio cabinet can tell you a lot about a person. I love the idea of collecting the pieces of your past, creating a little assortment of things that you really enjoy."

That same spirit fuels Curioso, his third solo release as Wilder Woods. It's an album that unapologetically explores all the curious corners of Rinehart's sound, powered by his genre-bending approach to anthemic American music. He chases the muse into uncharted territory: the slow-cooked soul of "Time On My Hands," featuring vocals (and vibes) from Jim James; the thick, synthy soundscapes of "Kind of Magic"; the stomping, four-on-the-floor rock & roller "Hide Anymore"; the harmony-driven "Offering," recorded as an indie-folk duet with Anna Graves; the alt-pop highlight "Where Do We Go From Here," which trades the sunny uplift of Rinehart's earlier work for something dark and driving. It's a wide mix of texture, tone, and razor-sharp songwriting, held together not by some lyrical thread or overarching story, but simply by the enthusiasm of a longtime musician who’s still eager to stretch his legs and cover new ground.

"This album was a process of letting go and indulging in some of the more specific musical itches I've always wanted to scratch," says Rinehart, a South Carolina native whose two-decade career already includes six chart-topping albums with NEEDTOBREATHE, multiple GRAMMY and Billboard Music Award wins and nominations, and sold-out shows across America. If anyone deserves the right to indulge, it's someone who’s built his audience song by song, graduating from smaller clubs to full-size arenas. To some artists, that sort of hard-won success might feel like a trap — like a high that needs to be revisited and renewed, each hit followed by an even bigger smash. For Rinehart, it was a launchpad for something entirely new.

"It's very freeing to me, knowing that Wilder Woods doesn't have to be the project that feeds my kids," he admits. "That's a crazy position to find yourself in. I thought, 'Ok, you have the freedom to make this album your own way, and you don't have to worry about the success or failure of it. Why don't you go spend time with great musicians and make the record that you've always wanted to make? And by the way, don't worry about what anyone else thinks.' Hardly anybody gets that opportunity, and I didn't want to take it for granted."

Songwriting sessions for Curioso began in 2023, the same year that Wilder Woods scored a radio hit with the Top 15 single "Maestro (Tears Don't Lie)." Rather than replicate that song's sound, Rinehart found fresh inspiration elsewhere: in Perfume Genius' rhythms, Outkast's hip-hop samples, Arcade Fire's sweeping indie-rock, and even the Breeders' distorted guitars. He also found partners like producer Jeremy Lutito, engineer Konrad Snyder, and co-writers Trent Dabbs, Ian Fitchuk, Anderson East, and Foy Vance. Together, they took advantage of the free time between Rinehart's tour dates to write and record Curioso's songs in small batches. Tracks like the rootsy barn-burner “Devil In My Eyes” came together quickly, while others took more time to unfold, with the group focusing on each song’s rhythm track before adding new layers. The result is an album rooted not only in collaboration, but in serious groove, too.

"We really picked up the tempo," says Rinehart, who credits "Maestro (Tears Don't Lie)" with pushing him to embrace the raw, rhythmic elements of his writing. "On tour, we'd play that song and the place would just lose it. The tempo and the way it moved the crowd… I just wanted more of it, so I went in that direction with Curioso."

Moving in new directions hasn't prevented Rinehart from looking around and enjoying the world he's already built for himself. A proud family man who sang songs to both his wife and children on 2023's critically-acclaimed FEVER / SKY, he relishes his time at home. He cherishes the hours logged onstage and in the writing room, too. "Whenever I'm writing a song, I want to be in the moment," he says. "I'm trying to slow things down and be present." Rinehart crystallizes that attitude with "Time On My Hands," a neo-soul tribute to a life leisurely spent. The song unfolds like a Motown classic for the modern world, mixing a laid-back groove with stabs of electric guitar, blasts of keys, and thickly-stacked vocal harmonies — including contributions from My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James, another rock & roll bandleader who explores different sounds with his solo work. “Jim is one of those guys who goes into the recording studio and no one expects a certain sound to come out,” says Rinehart. “It just sounds like whatever he’s into at that moment. I hope my career winds up looking like that. I don't want to get stuck chasing the last sound I made, or the last hit I had.”

He is, however, willing to indulge in a little nostalgia. If Curioso is Rinehart's own version of a curio cabinet, then songs like "Love Last" are musical keepsakes from a childhood that began in the 1980s, back when artists like U2 and Bruce Springsteen ruled the radio. For the young Rinehart, those secular sounds shared equal space with the gospel music he heard on Sunday mornings in his hometown church. "Love Last" nods to both sides of that musical coin. A ringing, stadium-sized rock epic about the endurance of the human heart, it's the sort of larger-than-life song that Rinehart's voice was made to tackle. He sings it with the full-throttle power of a frontman who spent 2023 in road-warrior mode, performing with NEEDTOBREATHE in arenas across America before working on Curioso during his days off. Outlets like Rolling Stone have praised Rinehart's "raspy roar of a voice," but he hits a new high-water mark here, delivering each song with the vocal firepower of someone who's used to being onstage nightly, singing for the fans in the back row.

Awesome, indeed. With his third release as Wilder Woods, Rinehart hasn't just established his own sound; he's moved beyond it, too. Curioso is his own curio cabinet: a curated collection of the influences and experiences that have shaped him as a musician, placed on public display for the whole world to hear. What they showcase is a songwriter who respects his musical roots while also using them as a springboard, propelling himself to new heights, chasing down new curiosities along the way.