Brian Wilson's Unreleased 1970 Country Album to Come Out Alongside Docuseries in 2025

The unreleased country album Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson started working on in 1970 will finally see the light of day.

Cows in the Pasture will come out sometime in 2025 alongside a four-part docuseries about the Beach Boys' former manager Fred Vail.

The entrepreneur recalled first proposing the project to Wilson in a Los Angeles hotel room during a recent interview with Rolling Stone.

"I said to him, 'Have you written any country songs?'" Vail recalled. "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.'"

Early cuts of the 14 songs on the record were recorded while the Beach Boys were working on Sunflower at a nearby studio. The country album included legends like guitarist James Burton, pianist Glen D. Hardin and steel guitarist Red Rhodes.

But Wilson quickly lost interest in the project, which never had an official name at the time. Vail isn't sure how fans started calling it Cows in the Pasture.

"He was dealing with a lot of issues," the manager said of Wilson. "He had gained a lot of weight and was sleeping late in his big bed. There was a lot of things going on with him personally, and he didn’t have any interest in finishing it at that point, so the tapes went into the vault at the Beach Boy office."

Now, the album is being revived with help from producer Sam Parker and a cast of guest artists including T Bone Burnett.

These days, Wilson views the album as primarily Vail's.

"Fred always loved country music and he was a big rodeo guy," the musician told Rolling Stone. "He’s a hell of a guy, one hell of a promoter, and I’m glad his album is coming out."

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News about the resurfaced country album came just two weeks after the death of Wilson's wife Melinda.

"My heart is broken. Melinda, my beloved wife of 28 years, passed away this morning," he said in an Instagram post on Jan. 30.

"Our five children and I are just in tears. We are lost. 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."

The Beach Boys are also scheduled to play the New Orleans Jazz Festival this spring alongside acts including the Rolling Stones, Foo Fighters and Neil Young and Crazy Horse.

Wilson formed the Beach Boys in 1961 with his brothers Carl and Dennis and their friend Mike Love. The band hails from Hawthorne, a small city in the South Bay region of Los Angeles County.