With it’s mix of sun, surf and hospitality, Ocean Beach is a haven for artists of all types. The recent album “Waves: A Compilation Featuring Ocean Beach Music” — available locally at Cow records and other retailers — showcases some of the area’s finest longtime musicians. Among those standout artists is Coco and Lafe, a pair of recent transplants who have turned in one of the album’s highlights: “Ocean Beach.” Originally from Vermont, the acoustic duo of Lafe Dutton and Carolyn Kallis split their time between Ocean Beach and the East Coast. Although Coco and Lafe, who perform at Seaport Village throughout September and at The Ocean Beach Farmers Market on Sept. 23, are fairly recent San Diego transplants, Dutton has been visiting the city for several decades and feels a strong connection. Working for Warner Bros. as a general sales manager during the late ’80s, Dutton would visit his best friend in Ocean Beach. “I used to come out every three months and stay for a week or so, and I just fell in love with the place,” Dutton said. “I wrote half the songs on all these albums on those visits.” Ironically, the song “Ocean Beach” was written in Boston. “We were on the East Coast and had already come out and met with producer Chuck Schiele about recording,” Dutton said. “At the last minute, our financing fell through. So we thought we weren’t going to make it to San Diego and we were really bummed. I sat down and wrote ‘Ocean Beach’ as a sour grapes thing because we weren’t coming.” The song can also be found on their new album “Café Loco.” Dutton said he is thrilled with the duo’s decision to record at Schiele’s StudiOB. The pair had each released a solo album, “Am I Gone” by Dutton and “Environmental Songs for Kids” by Kallis, as well as a two Coco and Lafe releases “Jacuzzi” (2007) and “Dream Street” (2008). Meanwhile, Kallis was also an in-demand backing singer, appearing twice on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” with Rebecca Pidgeon. When it came time to make a new album, though they were used to recording on the East Coast, they found the climate there a little chilly. “We had shopped for recording studios in Boston,” Dutton said. “We had a five-figure budget but nobody called us back. Nobody seemed excited about what we were doing. So we thought, ‘Okay, let’s try studios in San Diego.’” He eventually called Schiele for advice on the matter and ended up meeting the perfect producer for his next album in the process. Schiele, who is building a reputation for his hands-on studio approach, a la Mutt Lange or George Martin, became an integral part of the duo’s music, helping Coco and Lafe craft their third album “Café Loco.” “We are so much better musicians today because Chuck sat us down and said things like ‘Change the key here,’ ‘Rewrite this verse,’ and so on, making our songs stronger.” Key to the pair’s decision to base themselves locally part-time was Schiele’s outgoing nature. “He started introducing us to other local musicians,” Dutton said. “There are so many great players here and everyone was wonderful to us. It was inspiring.” The pair has found a unique niche for themselves, preferring to primarily play in farmers markets. They have now established a tour route for themselves that keeps them on the road for over 200 dates a year. “As to why we do farmers markets … and NOT clubs is, we asked ourselves what would be the opposite of what every other musician was doing,” Lafe said. The answer the pair came up with was outdoor markets. According to Kallis, there are many advantages to making these sorts of concerts their mainstay. “First off, it’s wonderful to play outside,” Kallis said. “It’s festive and we meet such a great mix of people from all over the world. But one of the advantages of doing what we’re doing is that, instead of trying to get the people to come to us, we go to where the people are. We’ve built a really good fan base that way.” The pair are already booked for the next year. Though the foreseeable future sees them on an endless tour schedule, they do plan to lay down new roots eventually. For the moment, the couple is bicoastal but they hope to shift their efforts west as soon as possible. “We own a house in Vermont, but we’ve spent a grand total of three weeks there in the last two years,” Dutton said. “Our goal is to buy a house here in Ocean Beach and make this our more permanent base. It’s such a musical community and people are so giving and welcoming. The music scene is unbelievable here.” Coco and Lafe perform at Seaport Village throughout September. The shows are for all ages and there is no cover charge. For more information, visit www.cocolafe.-com.