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GREENSBORO — “The Early Show” weatherman Dave Price is in the street in front of a CBS satellite truck hogging Martin Avenue in northeast Greensboro, waiting to go live on national television, when a garbage truck rounds the corner.

The four singing Peay brothers of Greensboro are about to find out they are finalists in the show’s “Singing Family Face Off” reality competition, which could lead to a recording contract with CBS Records.

“Can we get that out of here?” someone in the production crew yells, as the garbage truck driver takes a sudden turn in the other direction in avoidance of the hoopla, which includes vehicles from WFMY’s news crew and, as part of a ruse, a minivan full of balloons with “Publisher’s Clearing House Prize Patrol” on the side.

Several school buses — with the driver of one of them yelling that they’ve got the wrong house and “It’s supposed to be me!” — and a city transportation van doing pickups gingerly make their way through.

It’s the 7:30 a.m. news segment  and anchors in the show’s New York studio are seconds away from cutting to Price, who in giving the weather to an audience of millions throughout the morning has been coy about where he is — except for the clues, which included his Wrangler blue jean jacket with white wool around the collar and faded jeans, and the names Dolley Madison and Edward R. Murrow.

Each day this week Price has surprised a family somewhere in the country of their selection. He will notify the two remaining families today and Monday in the search for “America’s most talented singing family.” Others already picked for the top six come from Atlanta; Bluff City, Tenn.; and Cleveland.

Told earlier this month that they were at least among the top 20, the group that sings mostly a cappella and  puts its own twist to an old-school Motown sound peeked outside and saw the buildup of vehicles, including the one from the Prize Patrol.

“I said any way it goes is fine with me,” said Joyce Peay, who had pushed her sons to enter. She joked that maybe it was a sweepstakes check that had instead brought the crowd.

The buildup outside included Price and Dave Sayer, his  old friend who awards the clearing house prizes, meeting on the family’s porch to banter about just who has the best news for the family. Sayer — with a “stay tuned” tease — confessed he has nothing for the Peays, but that someone in the greater Greensboro area will be the recipient of a prize to be awarded next week.

From the other side of the front door, the knocking elicits screams.

“Thank God, this is not a dream,” said Taimine Peay, 30.

The four brothers grew up in New Jersey and eastern North Carolina, then made their way to Greensboro, where three of them attended N.C. A&T. Majid, 32, is a married claims adjuster and father of 20-month-old Naomi. Taimine is a music and physical education student at GTCC. Katif, 29, is an A&T doctoral student in energy and environmental sciences. Solomon, 21, is an A&T mass communication and public relations major.

“I was singing before I knew my times tables,” Majid said during an interview with Price on how long the boys had been singing.

The family joins an elite group of Greensboro-area reality prize contestants — from “American Idol” winner Fantasia Barrino to early “Survivor” contestant Kelly Wiglesworth.

The Peays’ father, Simon, who started the boys’ group two decades ago, died when Solomon, the youngest, was just a few months old. Joyce Peay worried about raising sons on her own and filled idle time by loading them up in the family van and driving to gospel shows and competitions — even to a contest at the Grand Ole Opry a decade ago.

“When they were younger, I pushed them and bribed them with hamburgers,” said Joyce Peay, a postal service employee who still lives in Rowland, near Fayetteville. “I said, 'Just sing, and you can get what you want.’ Now, they are singing from their heart.”

At the single-level brick home on Martin Avenue, it’s shortly after 8 a.m. and Price is introducing the Peays to the world.

“It is a cappella and it is beautiful,” Price said as the network aired video of the brothers singing “We Can Make A Change,” an original song written by Solomon.

The song is about family and togetherness, and in a play off the old African proverb that it takes a village to raise a child, the song refers to a time when “If you got in trouble it was village discipline — my grandmother, then my mother, and even cousin Kate,” said Majid, the eldest.

The actual competition will begin Wednesday   with two families each week facing off with live performances before non-voting celebrity judges at the the CBS studio in New York. Viewers will vote online at www.earlyshow.cbsnews.com to keep their favorite family in the running.

Because the show airs on a one-hour delay in Greensboro, the announcement didn’t air until the 9 a.m. hour. So, much of the rest of Greensboro didn’t find out about the Peays’ accomplishment until later — unless they ran across the brothers, who were headed to A&T to begin spreading the news to the so-called Aggie Nation of alumni and supporters, who they hope will help vote them through.

Contact Nancy McLaughlin at 373-7049 or nancy.mclaughlin@news-record.com