Harpeth Rising plays as harmonious and powerful as rushing water with influences in roots, Appalachian, rock and bluegrass music. Their music captivates while enticing the mind to go into a tranquil trance, just like the river they are named after.
The Nashville-based folk band returned to The Hideaway Café off Central Avenue in St. Petersburg on Nov. 21.
Harpeth Rising’s instrumentation consists of violin, banjo, cello and foot percussion with three-part vocals. Jordana Greenburg plays the violin, Rebecca Reed-Lunn plays the banjo and foot percussion, and Maria Di Meglio plays the cello.
The band has been together for five years. They are a classically trained group that united at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
“To be in a folk band, you have to have a heightened sense of adventure,” said Reed-Lunn as she told a story about the band being caught in a Utah dust storm.
Reed-Lunn says she went to school for the viola, but learned how to play the banjo on Youtube.
“You gotta do the Sinatra,” Di Meglio said, mimicking her father’s Brooklyn accent. The girls got the crowd clapping when they performed a cover of Nancy Sinatra’s song, These Boots are Made for Walkin’.
Greenburg grew up hearing her father’s singing voice and watched him play. Greenburg said her parents have a farm and her dad uses the cows as an excuse to never leave. Every Harpeth Rising set includes a song dedicated to him. The band collaborated with Greenburg’s father, David Greenburg, for an entire album and together produced End of the World.
“Folk music can be very dark. As long as you cloak it in chords, you can get away with it,” said Greenburg.
Harpeth Rising dove into a new genre with an instrumental version of Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven. The lyrics sang through the strings as the girls covered the classic.
Their song, Four Days More, was used for a People’s Climate March, where hundreds to thousands of people gather to call for climate action. The song captures the passion of a group of people getting ready for a rebellion.
Harpeth Rising’s fourth album, Tales from Jackson Bridge, reached No. 6 on the Folk DJ Charts in October 2013 and No. 15 on the Euro-Americana Charts in March 2014. Harpeth Rising said the album expands on their blues, Latin and rock influences and adds some flavor of Texas Swing and Gypsy Jazz.
