Working from opposite coasts – Florida and northern California, respectively – Jimmy Buffett and Dan Hicks attracted cult followings during the 1970s for their often whimsical celebrations of life on the nonchalant side. Buffett's cult exploded, while Hicks's has maintained a modest simmer. The two hook up vocally on "Barstool Boogie," a bouncing salute to a shared pastime, one of numerous delights from Selected Shorts, Hicks's first album in four years. Other singing guests are Butthole Surfer Gibby Hayes, who phoned in his contribution, and Willie Nelson, whose intonation is even shakier than Hicks's. Nelson left his guitar in Austin, Texas, but fellow Djangologist Gonzalo Bergara brought his to the studio, joining veteran Hot Licks fiddler Sid Page for some jazzy Hot Club of France-like solo flights anchored by Jim Keltner's understated brush strokes. Hicks also offers a couple marvelous scat choruses steeped in Jon Hendricks-style bebop, with occasional yodels to mark his Little Rock, Ark., roots. His 10 originals are rich in humor and wisdom, and the three covers are also on target, especially his treatment of the 1951 Rosemary Clooney smash "Come On-a My House." Hicks transforms the Central Valley Armenian American classic – penned by future Alvin and the Chipmunks dad Ross Bagdasarian and William Saroyan – into witty commentary on 21st-century consumerism. Dan Hicks plays Sat/4, Fillmore, S.F. (415) 421-8497. (Lee Hildebrand)

Radius
Please Hold On (self-released)

If you like your folk and electronic music stirred with a helping of quivering love odes and self-exploration, then you'll like Radius's Please Hold On. Mission Creek Music Festival founder Jeff Ray (vocals and guitar) and Mark Edwards (electronics and vocals) offer a fine collection of electronic-folk sketches. Acoustic guitar, samples, and Ray's boyish vocals also add to the album's tranquil sense of place. "Apartment Dwelling" captures the essence of city living through its lyrics, but the delivery is so mellow and simplified, revolving around just one instrumental chorus, that every element of the track seems essential. "Indonesia" – which strikingly parallels the work of Sufjan Stevens – sounds incredibly precise and intricate with its shifting bell chorus, well-placed cuckoo-clock samples, and barely there vocals. However, in true love-rock fashion, "Please Hold On" is overly gushy: "Just a few months ago / Traveling up the Fillmore / Held onto each other / For support / Please hold on / Please hold on to me." And while lyrics like these feel like they've been done before, Radius's consistency in providing rhythms that can mimic everything from ocean patterns to the sound of wizardry all but make up for the weaker aspects. (Stephanie Laemoa)

Mail stuff for review to Sarah Han, Bay Guardian Building, 135 Mississippi St., S.F. CA 94107.