An innovative music series takes up residence in Bud’s at Carmel’s La Playa Hotel.

There are a number of things that hotels can do to make customers feel good. Comfortable sheets and good coffee are musts, to start with.

At some hotels, live music can be heard on selected nights – such as a small jazz ensemble or a singer-songwriter with an acoustic guitar. Marc & Rose Hospitality, a collection of resorts and hotels – it owns La Playa Hotel with Bud’s bar and Carmel Hotel with Brophy’s Tavern in Carmel – decided to take the live music experience to a new level.

John Grossman, the company’s CEO, says they were inspired by the “Sing for Your Slumber” series created by Wilco bassist John Stirratt, who co-founded a hotel that hosts pop-up and impromptu performances by musicians who are staying there. “We decided to do something similar,” Grossman says about the Fadeaway Sessions, as the project is called, “inviting an artist to spend the night and have a meal in exchange for music.”

The experiment started in High Country Motor Lodge in Flagstaff, Arizona. This year, after the program proved successful, it migrated to Bud’s at La Playa Hotel.

The majority of the free gigs at Bud’s consist of small live concerts or a single DJ spinning vinyl. “We call them analog sessions – soulful and experimental,” Grossman says. “Bud’s is a small space with a studio quality vintage sound system. We record all sessions to make them available later on.”

According to Grossman, it’s important for a hotel to be rooted in the community. “You check in to a hotel full of locals and learn that this is what creatives play in this part of the world,” he explains. “It’s a risk, but new music served differently makes you start thinking differently. You can enjoy it without knowing who the artists the DJ plays are. It makes for a more interesting night.”

Among those who have played at Bud’s Fadeaway Sessions are Nick Waterhouse, DJ Foodcourt, Rudy Kuhn of Redwood Records and Ian Grant of Jokermen Podcast. The upcoming artist is singer-songwriter Emma Swift.

Marc & Rose Hospitality is involved with One Percent for the Planet, contributing at least 1 percent of its annual revenue to environmental causes. Each Fadeaway Sessions musician is being consulted on which environmental organization to choose.

EMMA SWIFT plays 7pm Tuesday, Sept. 2. Bud’s at La Playa, Camino Real and 8th, Carmel. No cover. 293-6100, fadeawaysessions.com.