Beach Boys co-founder and pop music innovator Brian Wilson's name is attached to a country album that's slated for release in 2025.
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Back in 1970, Wilson began work on a country music project titled Cows in the Pasture. Wilson served as the project's producer while then-Beach Boys manager Fred Vail on lead vocals. Ultimately, the project got shelved.
Vail's currently finishing the archival find with producer Sam Parker as well as a list still-unnamed superstar collaborators from both country and rock. Wilson's the executive producer and will provide guest vocals on one song.
"It's been a roller coaster," Vail told Rolling Stone. "It shows me that the stuff we recorded in April '70 is timeless. I was really, really proud of this record, and even though it sat in the can for decades, literally, I always was thinking, 'Man, that'd be great to get back into the studio and finish this thing.' And now that's happening."
Despite Vail's lack of experience as an in-studio singer, he took on the Cows in the Pasture project at the behest of Wilson.
"Fred always loved country music and he was a big rodeo guy," Wilson told Rolling Stone. "He's a hell of a guy, one hell of a promoter, and I'm glad his album is coming out."
The album will be released in conjunction with a documentary that covers Vail's time with the Beach Boys, which began in 1969, as well as his and Wilson's quest to finish their country album over 50 years after it got locked away in the vault.
Wilson's worked with country stars before. He and the rest of the Beach Boys lineup at the time released a country duets album in 1996 titled Stars and Stripes Vol. 1. On that disc, the likes of Lorrie Morgan, Ricky Van Shelton and Toby Keith sing some of the Beach Boys' biggest hits.
