He bills himself, jokingly, as “That Other Singing Sheriff,” a politically deft nod to fellow Louisianan, actor and vocalist Faron Young, but unlike that honky tonk legend, Beauregard “Bud” Torres really is a sheriff—of Pointe Coupee Parish, no less, though Torres doesn’t sing about life in New Roads on his debut album. No, these ten originals are more about enjoying the salt and spray off the Gulf Coast, specifically Grand Isle. In fact, despite his authentic backwoods twang, the man behind the badge comes off more like a Jimmy Buffett of the wetlands, in theme anyway, offering a series of portraits of the good life—drinking “Tequila & Lime,” enjoying the “Louisiana Rain,” living on “Island Time” and “Dreamin’ ‘Bout Mexico.” And why not? The disappearing coast could use a poster boy at this point.

Torres’ country ballads and mid-tempo lopes are nothing you haven’t heard before musically, but they do convey the slow, lingering, sunny buzz of a very extended weekend on the water—minus, of course, the occasional regret lurking behind the aimlessness of Buffett’s best songs. (Not that he doesn’t try on “True Heart,” “I’ll Do Anything” and “The Way Love Goes.”) The Sheriff’s vocals are a little plain and sometimes flat, but they never get tainted by the two-dimensional tourist ad copy his lyrics sometimes degrade into. He’s too authentic for that, even if he’s not trying to aim that high in the first place. After all, Bud’s not wasting away in Margaritaville—he runs it.