In late 2025, Beach Boys founding member Brian Wilson had plans to finally release a country project that has been gathering dust in the vault for half a century.
Wilson and Beach Boys manager Fred Vail started working on an album called Cows in the Pasture back in 1970.
It was an unusual project, and not only because country music was an unfamiliar genre for two artists associated with the Beach Boys’ iconic surf pop sound. It also featured Vail — who had no professional singing experience — on lead vocals, with Wilson as producer.
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They started recording 14 tracks, and some legendary session musicians joined them, including multiple members of Elvis Presley‘s TCB band. But Wilson’s interest fizzled, due in part to some mental health issues he was experiencing at the time, and they stopped all work on the project.
However, in 2025, that album was due to finally see the light of day. Rolling Stone reported that Cows in the Pasture was looking towards a release date, paired with a docuseries about Vail’s life story and featuring a number of still-under-wraps guest stars.
Putting out the project was a long-held dream for Vail, and he encouraged Wilson to get enthusiastic about the music again. Wilson is one of the guest vocalists on Cows in the Pasture.
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Tragically, he’ll never get to see the response to his long-lost country project. Wilson’s family announced his death on Wednesday (June 11). He was 82 years old and had been suffering from dementia for over a year.
At the time of Wilson’s death, many questions remain about the rollout of Cows in the Pasture. The project has yet to get a specific release date. The identities of most of the vocalists who contributed their voices to the songs are still under wraps.
But Vail says he always hoped this album would see the light of day.
“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,” he said in February 2024.
The Beach Boys have occasionally had connections to country music, including performing with Glen Campbell. Two members of the group — Mike Love and Bruce Johnston — made the band’s Grand Ole Opry debut in 2022, alongside LoCash.
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Gallery Credit: Sterling Whitaker
