E-Mail This Article to a Friend Hey good lookin’ Jimmy Buffett has a license to be himself BY SEAN RICHARDSON

In the liner notes to his current CD, License To Chill, Jimmy Buffett makes an astute observation: "Cowboys and country singers seem to be spending more time at the beach." That line is the beginning of an artful explanation as to why, after all these years as a cult phenom, the Parrot King has become the latest darling of the Nashville establishment. Part of the essay is a history lesson: before Hank Williams went to Nashville, he worked at a shipyard in Mobile. Since Buffett grew up in Mobile, he uses that bit of information as the launch pad for a short reverie about the country patriarch’s punching out of work, picking up a girl, and going to the beach. Written in the genial prose that’s made Buffett a bestselling author, the offhand myth is an amusing way of making a good point: his island-rock shtick was never that far removed from country in the first place.

The Williams connection extends to the album’s first single, a cover of his playful "Hey Good Lookin’." Buffett gives the song a loping Caribbean makeover, with familiar helpings of steel guitar and honky-tonk piano. Like his 1983 take on Van Morrison’s "Brown Eyed Girl," it’s a natural choice that almost seems too obvious. But it’s also the perfect opportunity for Buffett to do what he does best: throw a party. The guest list is a who’s who of male country singers: Alan Jackson, Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith, George Strait, Clint Black. They take turns delivering the song’s immortal pick-up lines; in the video, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders show up for extra dumb fun.

"Hey Good Lookin’ " is Buffett’s biggest hit in more than two decades, and it’s his first-ever Top 10 country single. But his celebrity has long transcended the charts: the Mardi Gras vibe of his concerts has made him one of pop’s all-time biggest touring draws, and his Margaritaville marketing empire (named after his signature tune) is legendary. Despite minimal airplay, he released a ton of new music in the 1990s, all of which sold well for MCA and Island. But his sudden re-emergence on radio came last year, when he won a CMA Award for his guest appearance on Jackson’s "It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere." That led to a deal with RCA for License, which he and his Coral Reefer Band are supporting with what’s become a high honor among blockbuster artists — a pair of gigs this weekend, Friday and Sunday, at Fenway Park.

License is a star-studded survey of Buffett’s favorite songs, some popular and some obscure, as well as a testament to the vitality of the star’s own writing. Three of the beach-crazed cowboys who join him on "Hey Good Lookin’," which opens the disc, get duets to themselves right off the bat. Jackson’s "Boats To Build" is an understated Guy Clark ballad that initiates a pattern of alternating raucous and mellow cuts. On Chesney’s title track, a Buffett original, a verse about "girls, girls, girls" leads into a bout of drunken shouting. Keith hoots and hollers his way through the album’s hardest rocker, "Piece of Work," a Diddley-beat slammer by Will Kimbrough.

Buffett shows his serious side on Stephen Bruton’s melancholy "Trip Around the Sun," a duet with Martina McBride that finds both singers at their most expressive. As a writer, he does introspective as well as he does rowdy. The gorgeous harmonies on "Coast of Carolina" frame tender words of devotion: "And the walls that won’t come down/We can decorate or climb or find some way to get around." On "Coastal Confessions," he brings five minutes of free association to a close with a hilarious admission of Catholic guilt. "Simply Complicated" begins with slapstick and ends with a knowing jab: "Am I country, pop or rock and roll/I know they are related/I’ll just let you be the judge/Of simply complicated."

Produced by long-time Reefers Michael Utley and Mac McAnally, and pitched to the label upon completion, License is a country blockbuster with integrity. Over its second half-hour, the disc tones down the CMT appeal in favor of roots-pop traditionalism. On a relaxed cover of the classic "Sea of Heartbreak," Buffett and Strait dig deep for the twangiest performance here. And just in case anybody was wondering whether Buffett can still rock, he and the band let loose on a hot cover of the Grateful Dead’s "Scarlet Begonias." The hard-earned country tag suits him fine, but this man will always be a genre unto himself.

Jimmy Buffett performs this Friday and Sunday, September 10 and 12, at Fenway Park in Boston; call (617) 267-1700.