Monterey Farmers Market among best local music venues.

Every Tuesday afternoon, rain or shine, the Old Monterey Marketplace and Farmers Market turns Alvarado Street into a pedestrian mall.

“You can travel the world in just three blocks,” exclaims the Old Monterey Business Association website, “finding arts and crafts, handmade jewelry, furniture, clothing, international food, organic produce, flowers and pastries.”

That’s not news. What’s more surprising is the fact it doubles as one of the best venues to soak up numerous outstanding local musical personalities, rotating frequently.

A recent Tuesday visit yielded three distinctly different guitarists – and an intriguing electric violinist.

Joseph Lucido was hired by Ray Headley, manager of the Old Monterey Marketplace, over 10 years ago, and he has worked for him ever since.

“Joe is a mainstay of the Monterey market,” Headley says.

Lucido’s dad was a Monterey Bay fisherman and his mom worked in the canneries, making him “about as local as local can be,” he says.

Lucido started playing guitar in junior high and was making a living as a full-time musician by age 17. “Let’s just say I’ve been playing a long time,” he quips. Lucido also plays bass and piano. Besides Monterey, he also plays the farmers markets in Marina, Pacific Grove, Carmel and Carmel Valley, in addition to playing gigs out of town, both as a solo performer as well as in duos, trios and full bands.

He ranges from soft pop ballads to ripping rock, with a tonal style akin to Carlos Santana or Joe Satriani.

“The kind of music I bring to the markets is very different than the usual acoustic sound performed there,” he says. “I provide an ambiance that is a bit more modern – both eclectic and electric.”

Stylistically and generationally miles apart from Lucido is a young, fleet-fingered classical acoustic nylon-string guitarist named Joe Hedlind, another area native.

He found his love of guitar at age 7, and now has had 10 years of classical instruction, most of it with noted area guitarist and teacher Terrence Farrell.

Over time, Hedlind has discovered that market performances allow him to “loosen up and creatively doodle, not in solitude, but also without the pressure of classical criticism.”

“Those days when people can’t help but crack an authentic smile while passing by, and especially when they stop and listen with captivation and curiosity, are most meaningful to me,” he says.

Singer/songwriter Kenny Chung provides even more contrast. He has an old-time one-man-band feel, employing a bass drum pedal that strikes an empty suitcase for his downbeat. Singing is a big part of what Chung does.

What he likes most about playing at the market has to do with the effect on shoppers: “I’m a firm believer in the ripple effect music will have on people here,” Chung says. “There’s nothing better than seeing a group of kids dancing like it’s going out of style. And of course when the kids are happy, their parents will almost always brighten up and, in turn, take those happy vibes and pass them on to the next person they see.”

Electric violinist and vocalist Razz was a regular attendee at the Monterey Farmers Market in high school when she was growing up in Pacific Grove. To her, it was only natural to track down the Old Monterey Business Association to get permission to play the market once she had an act.

Now she plays a beautiful, custom-made six-string electric violin. She also uses an electronic tape-loop box, which via pedals lets her sample short melodic fragments she has just played so she can improvise against them in real time.

She has three CDs to her credit, each featuring soaring vocals and intricate, Celtic-inspired instrumental melodies.

Now a full-time touring and performing musician, she also fronts a hard rock band called Direct Divide, playing violin and singing lead vocals.

The barbershop-style Monterey Cypressaires, whose current membership is 38 men from age 12 to 85, specialize in four-part a cappella harmony. While they only appear a handful of times a year, when they do, listeners are rapt for favorite tunes like “My Wild Irish Rose.” Their next scheduled performance is April 19 at the Pacific Grove’s Good Old Days festival.

More musicians will rally to join the market once the rain and cold fade. As they do, more locals will realize they may come for the root vegetables, but linger to root on the impressive artists.

It’s a tuneable feast.

OLD MONTEREY MARKETPLACE and FARMERS MARKET happens on Alvarado Street Tuesdays 4-7pm October through April; 4-8pm May through September. 655-2607, www.oldmonterey.org