Andrea’s Fault kicked off a summer series on the patio of the Big Sur River Inn back in April of this year. Drummer and vocalist Andrea Carter returns to the deck for another round, this time as the Andrea’s Fault Quartet.
Her quartet includes long-time bandmate Darrin Mitchell on guitar, Cachagua Playboys alum Rick Chelew on upright bass, and sax and clarinet jazzman Ben Herod.
Carter has played Sundays at River Inn for some 18 years now.
“It’s unpredictably wonderful every time we show up,” Carter says. “We play off the audience and vice versa and together we create the day. At the end of the day, we always leave smiling.”
Carter and Mitchell met at an open mic night in 1995 at the old Morgan’s coffee shop – now East Village Coffee Lounge – in downtown Monterey. A mutual friend thought the guitarist and drummer would work well musically.
“There was definitely chemistry involved,” Carter says. “Our voices seemed to blend together right from the start. It was like discovering a new path that was unfolding for both of us simultaneously.”
Carter’s vocals can be wispy and sultry or strong and driving. And the band’s setlist runs from Cole Porter and Nat King Cole standards to the Drifters, Mose Allison and The Rolling Stones.
The addition of Herod’s wind extrapolations and percussion work (he also uses a tambourine and a drummer’s brush on a cardboard box) has changed the group.
“Ben adds a whole new dimension,” Carter says. “Songs we’ve done for 18 years sound new and transformed.”
However new they may sound, Carter remains mindful of the past, and of the patio’s musical lore.
Sunday afternoon music on the patio at the Big Sur River Inn is a summertime tradition that goes back over 40 years. It started when a six-piece Dixieland group known as Jake Stock and The Abalone Stompers first rocked the deck.
“The Abalone Stompers were a great band and they were there every Sunday for a very long time,” she says. “I heard them when I first came here in the ’70s. It’s wonderful carrying on that tradition. It’s an honor to be included on that roster.”
ANDREA’S FAULT QUARTET noon-4pm Sunday, June 3. Big Sur River Inn and Restaurant, 46840 Highway 1, Big Sur. 667-2700, bigsurriverinn.com
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