(Flickr)
As many of you know, in April 1970 Fred Vail--at the time the promotion and marketing manager of The Beach Boys and their newly re-launched Brother Records label--went in to the Wally Heider Recording Studio with Brian Wilson to begin production of a country album that has, over the years, become somewhat of a legend to us Beach Boys/Brian Wilson fans.
The "Sunflower" album was being completed at the time and Fred, as the 'go between' between WB President Mo Ostin, the Warner Brothers staff, and 'the boys,' was up to his neck in work, including the challenges of booking the band during this period. "I was a bit dismayed”, said Fred. “I know it was a trying period for Brian. The "Sunflower," album was a group effort--all of 'the boys' were heavily involved, which, at the time, also included Bruce. I truly believe Brian looked forward to the opportunity of being back in the studio in a true "producer" capacity. He knew I had a background in country radio and also remembered me singing in those early days when I would tune in a country radio station and sing along as we drove to the gigs. So, that was how the whole idea of a 'country album' originated."
As Brian's background was producing pop/rock records, he asked Fred to find songs and pick the musicians that would be the foundation for the sessions. Fred took on the duel role of 'artist' and co-producer for the four sessions that began--and concluded--during April. The result were some great tracks, featuring some of the finest session musicians of the era, along with some legendary LA country musicians and personalities: Keith Alison (at the time a member of Paul Revere's Raiders), future Rock Hall of Famer James Burton, former Cricket--and keyboardist/arranger--Glen D. Hardin, (who was a key part of Elvis' live band), J.D. Maness, a former Buck Owens Buckaroo who had played on The Byrds' 1968 album "Sweetheart of the Rodeo," steel guitar legend Buddy Emmons, legendary country fiddle player Gordon Terry, drummer Dennis St. John, at the time Neil Diamond's music director, acoustic bassist Roy Wooten and acoustic guitarist, Freddy Weller, at the time a "Raider" and just launching his own country music solo career.
After tracking 12 to 13 songs--along with a few sparse overdubs--the album was aborted when Brian lost interest in the project. A few songs, including Johnny Horton's "All For The Love of a Girl," and Hank Snow's "A Fool Such As I," included Fred's lead vocals, but the project ended as abruptly as it had started. A number of years later the 2" 16 track tapes were found and sent to Fred, who, by that time was living in Nashville and operating Treasure Isle Recorders, which recently celebrated it's 40th Anniversary and is now the 3rd oldest recording studio in the history of Nashville that is still under it's original management.
As his studio did not have 16 track heads, and his time was pretty well taken up managing the studio and raising--with wife Debbie--his now 20 year old daughter, Taylor (a pre-med junior at Cornell), the tracks remained uncompleted until Fred received a call from Mark Linett, who was interested in including a track in the projected Beach Boys box set of material that was recorded during 1969-1970. Fred dug up the old 2" tapes and transferred them to Pro Tools with the help of Blackbird Studio owner John McBride, engineer Brandon Epps, and the financial assistance of Beach Boys friend and fan Ben Valley.
"Our hope is that the sessions can be properly finished and one song potentially included in the archival set. If that happens maybe it will spark enough interest in the project so that we can finish the complete album that my dear friend, and 'brother in spirit,' Carl, and Brian have spoken about over the years. It was mentioned in a Rolling Stone article that Carl had participated in and BW has also mentioned it a few times. It's been referred to as "Cows In The Pasture" but that was never even mentioned while we were tracking it. It's one of those mysteries that has taken on a life of it's own," said Fred.
That's where Beach Boys fans and friends can have a significant role. Some additional funds need to be raised to complete at least one track, including background vocals, mixing and mastering. While studio time will not be an issue, $2,000 are needed to complete the song - not a lot of money - but time is very short as everything needs to be completed in the next week to ten days. So friends, if you can contribute any amount, large or small, please send a contribution to Fred’s PayPal account: MuzikBiz01@aol.com. Let’s do what we can to get this track released, hopefully as a start to getting all of the tracks released.
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