It’s been a while since we’ve looked at Brian’s hidden “booty” -so it’s worth remining readers what this series is about. Basically it’s songs penned by Brian Wilson that are not widely known in popular culture -so a California Girls would be excluded. Also excluded are all the tracks from Pet Sounds, SMiLE and That Lucky Old Sun -these are covered in separate track-by-track series.
So we resume our series with a song from the Wild Honey album, known for it’s boogie-woogie feel, and there is still a bit of that piano sound in this track. However Country Air hearkens back to the more harmonic earlier Beach Boys sound with the great harmonies. The country sounds and humming give the song a homemade feel, but there is also an element of spirituality in the soaring harmonies – a sense of “going home” that Brian returned to on That Lucky Old Sun. It’s another wonderful track from the beautiful transcendental era of the Beach Boys music.