Carmel crooner and her accompanist (who’s composed for Clint) set the mood for nostalgia at the Cypress Inn.

The fire is blazing, and the hands on the grandfather clock in the lounge are frozen at 5:30. I relax in the armchair and forget the passing of time, and even what era I am in. Here at the Cypress Inn, the past and present bleed into one another.

Debbie Davis, gliding around by the hearth in a strapless red dress, opens the act with one of her signature songs: “Crazy.” Not the CeeLo Green version, but the old-time country classic sung by her childhood idol, Patsy Cline. On the piano in the corner, Gennady Loktionov taps out the accompanying notes.

Davis takes a moment between verses to embrace familiar fans as they filter into the Carmel boutique hotel famously co-owned by Doris Day. Her tones are rich and vibrant, filling every corner. She travels around the room, singing right to each audience member in turn.

At one point, while singing “Fly Me to the Moon,” she takes the hand of an older dandy. With the line, “In other words, baby, kiss me,” she offers her cheek. He gives her a peck and turns bright pink.

At 61, Davis is finally living her dream. “I grew up singing Doris Day songs, loved all her movies. It’s a privilege to perform in her hotel,” she says.

Though she knew she wanted to perform from a young age, she didn’t have the chance to pursue it while raising five children. She worked a slew of jobs, from loan officer to restaurant server.

After her youngest daughter moved out, Davis moved from Bakersfield to Nashville to sing. She arrived there on her 47th birthday with no job and no place to live, armed with an autobiographical country ballad she’d written titled “Living Her Dream.”

She stayed in Nashville seven years, singing and trying to find a good gig, but it didn’t work out. “I didn’t get to sing like I wanted to, but I sang wherever I could,” she says. Ultimately she returned to California, hoping to find another way.

In August 2008, Davis moved to Carmel, and a friend urged her to go to Mission Ranch. There she met Loktionov, a master pianist originally from Russia. He has composed or arranged music for a number of Clint Eastwood’s films, including Jersey Boys and Million Dollar Baby, and performed on the recent American Snipersoundtrack. Davis approached Loktionov asked if he’d accompany her on just one song: “Crazy.”

Loktionov was awed. “Her voice was so beautiful and country,” he says. “Not little – a beautiful, wide voice.” They started performing as a duo.

Cypress Inn co-owner Dennis LeVett noticed them while Davis performed that same song and asked them to come to his hotel. They debuted at Cypress on Valentine’s Day 2009. Within a year, they’d become fixtures. They perform almost every Friday, Saturday or both.

Davis is amazed she found her niche here. “It’s like I’m having a party in my living room and everyone is my guest,” she says. “Everything I put out in the universe landed in my lap.”

Crystal Honn, a fan of Davis’ since well before her Mission Ranch days, says the singer has a talent for making personal connections while performing. “She has a way of reading people and seeing what’s in their hearts,” Honn says. “She brings the crowd in and makes them feel special.”

On the night I attend, her show stretches on for three hours. Some people filter in and out of the lounge; others stay firmly anchored to their seats. The audience swells to almost 30 at one point, but Davis says she’s seen the room even more packed.

For some songs, she invites everyone to participate in call-and-response style, or offers the mic to a fan during the chorus. She takes requests, even when she has to look up the words on her iPhone, while Loktionov ably backs her up.

She does a lush cover of Dean Martin’s “Sway” and hits all the highs of “I Dreamed A Dream” from the musical Les Misérables. She adds a coarse, gravelly edge to the final chorus of Alannah Myles’ “Black Velvet.”

Toward the end, while performing jazz classic “Sentimental Journey,” Davis connects with a blond boy bobbing his head across the room. They start dancing, with Davis mimicking his moves. Then she beckons him over with a finger and he comes, joining her as she finishes the song. She gives him a hug and lets him introduce himself to the cheering audience: Henry, 12 years old and Norwegian. The boy stays with Davis through Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep,” showing off his elbow-shuffling and shimmying dance moves.

“My intention every night is that everybody in the room leaves with an experience and a memory,” Davis says. “They come in there a stranger and leave a friend.”

For Cypress Inn’s music schedule, visit www.cypress-inn.com or call 624-3871. To book Debbie Davis and Gennady for private events, e-mail livingherdream@yahoo.com