On Dec. 17, The Grascals stepped onto Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium stage for the band’s 110th performance at the historic home of the Grand Ole Opry.

Yes, the bluegrass band keeps count.

“One day, we’d like to be officially members of the Opry,” said Terry Eldredge, about the site where country music legends and rising stars perform. “Each time it’s an amazing experience to go out on the stage.”

Since The Grascals’ premiere in 2004, the two-time Grammy Award-nominated band has performed with Brad Paisley, Dolly Parton, Vince Gill, the Oak Ridge Boys, Hank Williams Jr., Darryl Worley and Charlie Daniels.

On Friday, the six-member band will perform its mix of traditional bluegrass, old-school country and gospel inspired by life and “The Andy Griffith Show” at the Princess Theatre Center for the Performing Arts in Decatur.

“The audience should expect a good time, and hopefully they will leave high-spirited and will be able to forget about their troubles for a couple of hours,” Eldredge said.

The concert will feature a compilation of songs from past records, including “Dance Til Your Stockings Are Hot and Ravelin,’ ” a 50th anniversary tribute to “The Andy Griffith Show.”

The brainchild of Phil Connelly, president of Mayberry’s Finest Foods, the tribute record includes six songs from the show and an original tune “Boy, Giraffes are Selfish,” based on a line from one of the episodes.

Griffith chose The Grascals, which created the theme song for Mayberry’s Finest Foods, as the tribute band.

“That was awesome to have one of your mentors, one of your heroes in life, pick you,” said Eldredge, a self-proclaimed fanatic who can recite most of the show’s scripts by heart.

“Like everyone else, I grew up watching that show and still watch it today. ‘The Andy Griffith Show’ had a moral lesson that every human being should live by.”

Audience members can challenge The Grascals’ knowledge about Andy, Opie, Barney and Aunt Bee during the “stump the band” portion of the concert. Eldredge warned it is a difficult task, but it has been accomplished.

The Grascals sit at the intersection of friendship, family values, past gigs and an appreciation for traditional bluegrass with a modern twist. It is a place the six original members of the band carved for themselves in 2004.

“We all knew each other because at one time or another, all of us played in the same band at The Station Inn, the premiere bluegrass club in Nashville,” Eldredge said.

Current members Eldredge and Jamie Johnson created the sound with Jimmy Mattingly and Dave Talbot.

The foursome then reached out to Danny Roberts and Terry Smith — known as Smitty.

And the name? Eldredge and Johnson take credit for it, settling on The Grascals, a reference to “The Little Rascals,” after eliminating “Nip It in the Bud” — a line from “The Andy Griffith Show” — as a possible choice.

With old-timers Eldredge, Johnson, Roberts and Smith, newcomers Jeremy Abshire and Kristin Scott Benson round out the six-piece bluegrass band. Despite a change in members, the sound has remained the same.

“Jeremy and Kristin added a new taste to the sound, but they did not change it,” Eldredge said. “When you hear us, you know The Grascals are playing.”

The band signed with Mountain Home Records three weeks ago and immediately began working on a new record.

“We didn’t have any songs on the back burner, so we had to select songs and start recording in the studio while also touring,” Eldredge said. “It’s a little hectic.”

Living in Nashville, the band has access to some of the top writers in the business, including two of its own members, Johnson and Smith. Already winners of The Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America’s 2011 Instrumental Group of the Year and 2010 Bluegrass Band of the Year, the band plans to release its latest record in March.

“We are lucky. When we put a call out for songs, our mailbox gets stuffed,” Eldredge said. “It’s also difficult because we have to pass on some really amazing songs we want to put on the record that just don’t fit our sound.”