Harpeth Rising opened for the Bluegrass Festival Thursday afternoon in Niles amid a heavy downpour of rain. Daily Star photo/CRAIG HAUPERT

The Niles Bluegrass Festival holds a special place in the hearts of Nashville-based quartet Harpeth Rising.

It was the first venue the college-friends-turned bandmates played together back in 2009.

They’ve been coming back ever since.

“We love this place,” said violinist Jordana Greenberg. “It is beautiful and meaningful to us, and it’s always a great crowd. The people here love the music.”

Harpeth Rising, named after the Harpeth River in Nashville, plays mostly original music with some covers thrown in from time to time. Their sound is a heavy mix of bluegrass and classical with a little rock and Celtic thrown in for good measure.

“It is hard to describe … it is stuff we write, and we don’t write to be specifically in any genre, it is what it comes out as,” Greenberg said.

The quartet met while studying classical music in the mid-2000s at Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind.

After college, Greenberg and Rebecca Reed-Lunn, the group’s banjo player, hit the road, playing on street corners and anywhere else they were invited. The pair then spent a year in Maui, playing and writing music before deciding to form a group.

They moved to Nashville and started the band, Sisters Grimm, before changing the name to Harpeth Rising (another band had the rights to Sisters Grimm).

Maria di Meglio plays violin and Chris Burgess percussion.

They’ve produced two albums and have been touring full time since last year. Their albums “Harpeth Rising” and “Dead Man’s Hand” are available on iTunes and the band’s website, harpethrising.com.

Greenberg said their third album, featuring her father, David Greenberg, would be available in a couple months.

Harpeth Rising will play at the Niles Bluegrass Festival Friday before heading to play in East Lansing Saturday.