William Lee Golden was an Oak Ridge Boy before Kenny Chesney was born, but despite their age difference the country music stars share a common love: St. John.

Golden, 70, ran into Chesney in April backstage at the Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas. The conversation quickly turned to the Virgin Islands, and ultimately led to the senior star giving his younger counterpart an original work of art.

"We got to talking about St. John, and he was talking about how much he loved it and how long he’s been going there," Golden said recently, speaking by phone the day after he spent time with an old friend, former President George H.W. Bush, and his family at their home in Kennebunkport, Maine. "I mentioned that I was painting a painting about Trunk Bay."

When Chesney, 41, played a concert last month in Golden’s home region, the Gulf Coast of Alabama, Golden used the occasion as an excuse to surprise Chesney.

"I presented him with that painting," Golden said. "He seemed to be surprised that I had it for him. He said that he really liked it — he said, ‘I’ve got a house right over this hill right here.’"

Golden started vacationing in the Caribbean about a decade ago. He mostly went to Tortola at first, but then some fellow musicians started singing the praises of St. John.

"So I took my wife, Brenda, and our young son, Solomon, there, and we’ve been back there a couple or three times," Golden said. "We lease a house there overlooking Coral Bay. … I feel like a kid when I’m down there. I just love sharing that with Brenda and Solomon, too. He’s 8 now and playing football. To be able to experience a lot of beautiful places with the family, it’s something that kind of rewards you after working hard and being away from home."

St. John trips have become a winter tradition for the Golden family, a major change of scenery from life on their Golden Era Plantation outside Nashville. The Oak Ridge Boys, best known for their 1981 hit "Elvira," have recorded "four real successful Christmas albums," Golden said, and tour extensively during the holiday season, from early November until a few days before Christmas.

"After a long, grueling tour, it’s always fun to go to St. John," he said. "It’s fun to take the family and go on a tropical vacation."

Like Golden, Chesney could be said to wear his love for the tropics on his sleeve — if he ever wore shirts with sleeves. The singer of "She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy," "When I Close My Eyes," "She’s Got It All" and "Beer in Mexico" favors tank tops and muscle shirts, part of a carefully cultivated beach-bum image. He has owned a house on St. John for several years, and married actress Renee Zellweger there in 2005, though they split up four months later.

Golden has an equally distinct look, sporting a waist-length white beard. The Alabama-born baritone helped the Oak Ridge Boys hit the charts many times after he joined the group in 1965. Beyond "Elvira," the group had hits with "I’ll Be True to You," "Bobbie Sue," "I Guess It Never Hurts to Hurt Sometimes" and "Make My Life With You," and sang backup on the 1977 Paul Simon hit "Slip Slidin’ Away." The group’s latest album, "The Boys Are Back," includes a major departure: a cover of "Seven Nation Army," a hard-rock hit by the Detroit band the White Stripes.

Painting represents a relatively new artistic endeavor for Golden. He has loved taking landscape photographs for years, and long believed some of the scenes he photographed would make fine paintings.

"I’ve only been painting about seven years," he said. "My wife had bought me some acrylics. I’d always talked about wanting to try painting."

Chesney promised to hang Golden’s Trunk Bay painting in his home on the island. The painter has already started work on another St. John scene.

"I’m working on another piece from the cove down there by Miss Lucy’s, near Coral Bay," he said. "They have a Sunday jazz brunch there. I’ll go for lunch at Miss Lucy’s at that cove."