Subway musicians on the rise: Spirit Family Reunion

BUSHWICK (WABC) -- All of us who ride subways are walk the streets here in the city are used to hearing street musicians compete for our attention, hoping for a tip or two from passersby.

Turns out that can be great training for making real money in music. Just ask the band known as Spirit Family Reunion.

This group takes American folk music and gives it a jolt of energy to make it play today. The musicians want to get people dancing, and we learned how they did it first hand in Bushwick.

If the old saying is true that genius is one percent inspiration and 99% perspiration, then this Brooklyn band should have a brilliant future.

"We just wanted to play. We went where there was an audience: which was in public," lead singer Nick Panken said.

Playing for tips is called busking, a tradition as old as the roots of the traditional music played by spirit family reunion.

"You gotta be louder than three trains passing and a bunch of people that are going to and from work and don't care about your music at all," percussionist Stephen Weinheimer said.

"You know if it's working or not immediately," drummer Dylan Harley said.

"And, it was a great lesson to see what worked to put a smile on people's faces," Panken added.

"Playing in the subway is one of those things in life where the more you put in, really the more you get out," banjo player Maggie Carson said.

Lyrics from another song about the city comes to mind: if you can make it there, you can truly make it anywhere.

"You can't afford to hold yourself back and I think that frame of mind makes it so much easier when you get on stage," bass player Ken Woodward said.

Small clubs led to larger ones. Homemade CDs to a record deal and their first single - a total of 6 years trying to make themselves heard.

"We're fortunate that we get to make a little bit of a living by playing music that we love and that we make, and if the music makes us feel good and we can keep delivering the message that we believe in, that's how we keep the faith," Panken said.

Their faith has been rewarded. "Hands Together" is the title of the new album from Spirit Family Reunion recorded in Coney Island. It will be online and in stores. The band's first record was available only at shows, but the musicians still managed to sell 10,000 copies. Proves you gotta be resourceful to make it in music.