Mount Tamalpais’ intimate and always hip music festival, Sound Summit, returns on Saturday, Sept. 7 at Mount Tamalpais State Park.

This year’s event features headliners Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile & the Violators, as well as the California Honeydrops, 17-year-old guitar phenom Grace Bowers & the Hodge Podge and musician James Wallace, a.k.a. Skyway Man.

That’s an impressive lineup for any festival, let alone a small, single-day one atop beautiful Mt. Tam. Yet, an amazing lineup is nothing new for those who have attended Sound Summit in the past.

When asked how he manages to pull in such relevant and popular acts every year, festival producer and Roots & Branches Conservancy board president Michael Nash said, “Like anyone who loves music and wants to create a resonant event, I think it’s just about staying tuned to what’s happening musically on various fronts and trying to put pieces together that add up to something cool.”

He continued, “Hopefully we’ve done that to the degree that there are artists every year who strike the right chords, so to speak. Ultimately, there are countless options, so it’s at once a creative challenge and adventure.”

Produced as an annual celebration of Mt. Tam by Roots & Branches Conservancy, Sound Summit has raised over $250,000 for Mount Tam to date and funded a broad range of meaningful projects on the mountain, from trail and bridge restorations to fire prevention and water conservation, emergency equipment, visitor services and more.

Some acts that have graced previous Sound Summit stages include Wilco, Lord Huron, The War on Drugs and Kevin Morby. Local Grateful Dead fave Bob Weir frequently shows up unannounced to jam with friends such as Grace Potter, Herbie Hancock and Jim James of My Morning Jacket.

Asked if there have been any acts he’s wanted for the fest but just couldn’t land, Nash plays it cool. “There are so many performers we’d love to have. Some are simply beyond our financial resources; with others, it’s often about timing or plans they already have in the Bay Area. We have a few pursuits we’ve been persistent about that will hopefully bear fruit,” he noted.

The aforementioned intimate setting of Sound Summit is indeed a huge draw. But, as anyone who has attended the festival or any other event at Mount Tamalpais State Park would know, it can be a challenge to ascend the mountain. Buses transport concert goers to the stage while some braver, more athletic souls hike in and out. Yet it often feels like the pilgrimage to the show binds the audience closer together.

Nash agreed, saying, “There is something about this community that’s formed for a day. Bound by an awareness that they’ve all ascended the mountain, one way or another, and come together at this special place in the neighborhood for a memorable and, dare I say, elevated experience. You can absolutely feel that vibe. Everyone can see another, as they gaze out over a stunning vista with a stirring soundtrack to match. You feel like you’ve actually been somewhere.”

Tickets for Sound Summit are $138.50 for adults and $70 for youth 12 & under. Parking at the Summit is now sold out, and bus tickets are $35.The festival encourages attendees to bring blankets or low back chairs as well as seat cushions. Small coolers are welcome with sealed, non-alcoholic beverages, and food and beverages (alcoholic and non) will be sold but are cashless, so bring a credit card.

The past four years have been especially productive for Needtobreathe, considering the band has released three albums in that span, while also leaving quite a few extra songs in the vault. They’re currently touring, with a scheduled stop at the Green Music Center’s Summer at the Green in Rohnert Park, Aug. 24.

Keyboardist Josh Lovelace says the wealth of music reflects where Needtobreathe is at after more than 20 years as a band.

“It’s us dealing with our baggage and the things we have in our lives, in our human experiences (as songwriters), but also just being comfortable enough to be vulnerable with the other guys in the band creatively and also just spending time together. We actually enjoy each other’s company,” Lovelace said in a recent phone interview.

“Everybody’s just in a good space, where we love the band, we love making music, but we don’t have to. It doesn’t feel like as much of a job as it has sometimes,” he noted. “We’re enjoying it enough to let that fruitfulness come out, which is really cool. We don’t have to do this for a job. We’re very fortunate that we get to, but the drive for success or fame or notoriety, we’re all at a place in our lives where we’ve checked off a lot of boxes.”

The mood in Needtobreathe is especially striking within the big picture of the band’s career. For large chunks of time, conflict existed, specifically between founding members, chief songwriters and brothers Bear (lead singer, guitar, keyboards) and Bo Rinehart (guitar).

Both Rinehart brothers are talented songwriters. And that became a problem within Needtobreathe as the group began making albums, initially making an impact on the Christian rock scene with their first two CDs, Daylight (2006) and Heat (2007), before breaking through to mainstream rock in 2009 with the band’s third album, The Outsiders.

By the time Needtobreathe notched their first top 10 album on the Billboard magazine album chart with the 2011 album, The Reckoning, the dynamic between Bear and Bo Rinehart had grown toxic. Rather than pushing them to write better songs, the competitive nature of the songwriting was corroding the brothers’ relationship and the dynamic within Needtobreathe as a whole.

The Rineharts eventually agreed their relationship as brothers was more important than bickering over songs, and they sought to de-escalate their writing relationship. For a time they succeeded, and Needtobreathe notched two top-5 albums in 2014’s Rivers in the Wasteland and 2016’s Hard Love. But the issues returned, and in April 2020, Bo Rinehart left Needtobreathe.

Today’s more positive, creativity-driven atmosphere within Needtobreathe, Lovelace said, shouldn’t be mistaken for a lack of motivation or ambition.

Caves, the band’s latest album, is evidence enough of that. Lovelace said that with this album, he and his bandmates hope to elevate Needtobreathe to where they consistently headline arenas and will be able to tour at that level for some time to come.

The current headlining tour includes a mix of dates at festivals, outdoor amphitheaters, large theaters and music halls. So the band, which also includes bassist Seth Bolt, drummer Randall Harris and guitarist Tyler Burkum, appears to be closing in on that goal. And Caves is intentionally meant to translate to the biggest concert stages.

“When we went into the (Caves) record cycle, I think we all intentionally said to each other we want to make a record that feels anthemic and feels big,” Lovelace said. “I guess our next dream as a band after 20 years and nine records is we want to be an arena band. We want to play more arenas. We want to do more of those kinds of shows where we can bring in our production, and we can bring in more lights. We love that part of our job, the creative of the live thing.”

Caves represents a contrast—and perhaps a return to form—after their 2022 album, Into The Mystery, that scaled back on the Needtobreathe sound.

“Into The Mystery was ‘Let’s make it as simple as we can,’ kind of using the tools we had at the moment,” he explained. “I think we love painting with all kinds of different colors and palettes, and so this (Caves) is kind of going for it in some ways, throwing the whole kitchen, not just the kitchen, but the entire house, at the project.”

Work on Caves began when the band convened at a house/studio in Utah to write and do some preproduction and really accelerated last summer as Needtobreathe toured.

“We ended up in that early season in Utah, that was two years ago that we started this thing and had no idea what was going to happen with it,” Lovelace said. “We were like, ‘Are these songs for a record, or are they going to be for an EP or several releases?’ We had no idea we were starting something as special as Caves. We started writing on the road and we were out (touring in summer 2022), and it’s funny how that works as you’re writing and you’re recording. It just kind of comes together in a very organic way.

“It’s because the people that are creating it are humans going through life, and those things kind of blend in with your experiences and create this thing that kind of feels more cohesive than you ever intended it to be, as you’re going through it in a timeline sort of way. I think that’s what happened with this. We just kind of lived life together, and it created this beautiful thing that we couldn’t have planned if we’d tried,” he continued.

Further recording followed at Pachyderm Studios near Minneapolis before Needtobreathe declared Caves finished. Now Lovelace and his bandmates are ready to take the new songs to the live stage.

“We’re playing a bunch of new stuff, which is always fun,” Lovelace said. “It will be fun to step on stage and play with new energy and add new things to the set.

“There are definitely some fans that have been around from the beginning,” he noted. “So we’ll (also) get to play some of those songs that started our career. I think it’s going to be really fun. Whether you’re a long-time fan or a new fan, there’s going to be something for everybody.”

Needtobreathe plays Summer at the Green at 7:30pm, Saturday, Aug. 24. The performance takes place at Weill Hall + Lawn, with tickets ranging from $40 to $120. The Green Music Center is located at 1801 E Cotati Ave., Rohnert Park.