Brian Wilson to release lost country album from 1970
The original beadleader of he Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, has announced the arrival of a previously unreleased country album.
Currently, the afflicted legend is mourning the death of his wife, Melinda. Before the tragedy, The Beach Boys maestro had set the wheels in motion to share Cows In The Pasture, a long-lost country album, initially recorded over 50 years ago.
In 1970, Wilson decided to create a country album in collaboration with Fred Vail, The Beach Boys’ longtime manager. While Vail ferried the band to and from the airport in the early 1960s, he would always sing along to the country music station.
“I said to him, ‘Have you written any country songs?’ And he said, ‘Well, no.’ I said, ‘Do you have any idea who you’d like to use as musicians?’ He said, ‘Well, no. I’ve only worked with the Wrecking Crew for the most part. You find the songs. You select the musicians. We’ll go into Wally Heider’s Studio. We’ll start working on the album,’” Vail told Rolling Stone in a new statement.
The pair recorded 14 songs together, including covers of Roy Orbison, Hank Williams and Burt Bacharach. Amid the turmoil in Wilson’s life at the time, the record got swept to the periphery and didn’t even have a name.
The album will now finally surface as Cows In The Pasture alongside a four-part docuseries on Vail’s life as The Beach Boys’ manager.
“Fred always loved country music, and he was a big rodeo guy. He’s a hell of a guy, one hell of a promoter, and I’m glad his album is coming out,” Wilson said in a new statement.
The official release date is yet to be announced, but Cows In The Pasture is expected to arrive in 2025.
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