"Cows In The Pasture" by The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson to be out in 2025

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https://people.com/the-beach-boys-brian-wilson-releasing-country-album-cows-in-the-pasture-fred-vail-8578861

The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson Is Releasing a Lost Country Album with Star-Studded Guests
'Cows in the Pasture,' which features production from the music legend and vocals from longtime Beach Boys manager Fred Vail, is due out in 2025

By Sadie Bell
Updated on February 13, 2024 01:40PM EST

A never-before-heard album from The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson is coming soon.

According to a report from Rolling Stone published on Tuesday, a country record helmed by the music legend, 81, and longtime Beach Boys manager Fred Vail, which was shelved for over five decades, will be released sometime next year.

Although the details are slim, the outlet reports that the album, titled Cows in the Pasture, features production from Wilson on what’s his one and only country project, vocals from Vail, 79, and a roster of underwraps, star-studded guests.

Wilson and Vail first collaborated on the project in 1970 and the version that fans will be able to hear in 2025 will feature instrumentation that was completed at the time and new vocals from Vail, per Rolling Stone. The former manager is currently finishing the album with the help of producer Sam Parker and Wilson as executive producer.

Parker told the outlet that the album will feature appearances from “country music legends,” as well as “rock & roll legends, contemporary country and pop stars.” The Beach Boys frontman will also be a guest singer on one of the songs.

Originally, Wilson is said to have approached Vail about wanting to make a country album with his voice on vocals in 1970, despite the manager (who began working with the band formally in 1969) having no singing experience.

While they recorded temporary vocals and completed the instrumentation, Vail explained to the Rolling Stone that the Pet Sounds artist had “a lot of things going on with him personally” at the time, which led to Cows in the Pasture being lost.

The process to then finally finish and release the LP began about 10 years ago when the “Good Vibrations” band’s current management contacted Vail about his music that they found in the group’s vault, which he asked them not to throw out.

“It’s been a roller coaster,” he 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.”

Wilson also shared, “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.”

Per the publication, Cows in the Pasture will be released along with a docuseries about Vail’s time working with The Beach Boys, as well as his journey to finish his lost album with Wilson.

The announcement of the new project from Wilson comes several weeks after his wife of nearly three decades, Melinda Ledbetter, died at age 77.

The "You Still Believe in Me" musician, who shared five children with Ledbetter, announced the news of her death on Instagram in late January. His post included a thoughtful statement and a message from the pair’s children, who said she died peacefully at home.

“Our five children and I are just in tears. We are lost,” Wilson wrote in the caption of a carousel of throwback shots of Melinda. “Melinda was more than my wife. She was my savior. She gave me the emotional security I needed to have a career. She encouraged me to make the music that was closest to my heart. She was my anchor. She was everything for us. Please say a prayer for her. Love and Mercy Brian.”