For a group that by their own admission doesn’t quite fit in anywhere, The Isaacs sure are making great company these days. Performing at the Grammys, getting inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, being accepted as members of the Grand Ole Opry—any one such achievement would be a career-capper for another act. All of that and so much more is now part of the resume of the long-running (more than 50 years now) family act consisting of Lily Isaacs and her children Ben Isaacs, Sonya Isaacs Yeary, and Becky Isaacs Bowman.
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“They call it Isaacs-style,” Ben says as part of an interview American Songwriter conducted with the quartet over Zoom. “I’ve heard it a lot of times that it’s easier to say what we’re not than what we are. We’re not really country, we’re not really bluegrass, we’re not really Southern gospel. But we are a little bit of all that. So when I’m producing an act somebody comes into the studio and says, ‘Make it Isaacs-style,’ I know it’s just a mishmash of everything.”
“My three babies grew up with very diverse musical backgrounds,” Lily says with pride while her children roll their eyes just a bit. “My ex-husband, their father, was a bluegrass musician. I was a folk artist. We met in Greenwich Village in New York in 1969. We were singing in the same nightclub. So when we got married and my kids were born, they got both worlds. They’ve always had a combination of all of the above, and that kind of developed the style that we are.”
“It’s been challenging to come up with a definition of ‘What are The Isaacs?’” Sonya explains. “We’re kind of a square peg trying to fit into round holes and we don’t really fit into any of those exactly. We’re a little bit contemporary for the bluegrass people, we’re a little bit too secular for the gospel people. But fortunately, they’re still including us in some of those categories like the Dove Awards and stuff. We just feel honored because we know we’re not typical of what other artists represent in those genres.”
What the group is modestly omitting is that these different organizations and award committees are responding to the high caliber of work that The Isaacs deliver, no matter what the overarching genre might be. They’ve proven that recently with a step towards a more secular country sound on The American Face in 2021, which found them covering everyone from Shania Twain to The Beatles while delivering original tracks that sat seamlessly beside the classics. It was their third straight Grammy-nominated album, a streak that included their pandemic-inspired, fan-aided 2020 release Songs For The Times.
On top of that, the band tours constantly, bringing their stunning harmonies and instrumental dexterity to everything from arenas to church services. And they’re ready for the next step in their evolution, one which will ideally bring their immense talent to a much wider audience. Their loyal fans and the industry experts already know; it’s time for the rest of the world to find out.
Singing for their Supper
The Isaacs story begins with bluegrass musician Joe and budding folk singer Lily marrying in 1970. Living the itinerant life of touring musicians but wanting to engender closeness within the family, they had no choice but to bring their children along. Since the kids tended to get bored with the long hours, their parents decided they would try and make them feel part of the proceedings.
“We thought they were going to be big stars because they were 5, 6, and 8 years old when we recorded this little cassette that they did,” Lily recalls. “We’d get in that van, and there was a little bed and they’d sleep in the back. We’d have bologna, ham, and cheese in the cooler to eat. And they dreaded going.
“So I had this great idea. I said, ‘Let’s get you in the studio one day and you can record a cassette. And you can sell it at the table and you can keep the money.’ So that’s what they did. They were so happy that if they made 20 or 30 bucks a night, they thought they were living high on the hog. They’ve been singing harmony ever since.” (“Child labor,” Sonya interjects with a laugh as her mom tells the story.)
Those harmonies came in handy on The American Face, as the three siblings took on a batch of beloved covers that stretched even their capabilities. They laughed about their experience with Chicago’s “You’re The Inspiration.” “We’ve done a cappella since the time that we’ve been able to talk, and that’s a strong point that our audience loves,” Becky says. “Every night we want to do one or two a cappella songs. So we wanted an a cappella that stretched us, a song that every night presented a challenge to us.”
When they got together in the studio to tackle the song, they found a variety of key changes that were made even more complex by the effort to bring three-part harmony to the mix. It taxes them even today when they perform it live. “We know, on a personal level, if it was a success if we start in G and end in G,” Becky laughs. “If we end that song in the wrong key, we look at each other and say, ‘Where did we go wrong?’”
Hearing the band take on songs like “Turn, Turn, Turn” and “More Than Words” on The American Face is revelatory, as those voices so long associated with gospel uplift uncover newfound emotions from lyrics we’ve all heard a thousand times before. Their take on The Beatles’ “We Can Work It Out” deserves mention right alongside Stevie Wonder’s funkified take when talking about the best-ever versions of the song.
The song choices and the writing on the originals were all part of a calculated plan to cross over more effectively and broaden the scope of the band’s fandom. “We’re coming into performing art centers after established country artists or folk acts have been there,” Becky says of their current touring schedule. “We intentionally wanted to create a record that would allow us to feel connected with the audience. And we just wanted to find songs that would connect with a broad spectrum of people that come to these venues that we were getting to walk into. And then incorporate Isaacs’ material so that they would get to know us. There’s something about songs that people can sing along to, that camaraderie it creates. Then you can be more vulnerable with your own music because you’re in their heart by that time. They’ve accepted you. So we were very intentional with The American Face record to let our audience hear music that would remind them of their home. And then we could start introducing them to The Isaacs.
“When we sit down and write, we tend to be very transparent,” Becky continues. “We feel that vulnerability, and sometimes your flaws reach people better than the dynamic of you’re perfect and your world is great. People identify with that transparency because they’re like, ‘If they’ve gone through that, I can go through that.’ That was our goal and we’ll try to meet that goal, whatever market accepts it.”
“When we were writing for The American Face, we were reaching for the secular market, so the songs were life, love, and the lack thereof, and story songs,” Sonya adds. “But always songs of hope. Our message is there’s always hope. We know where we get our hope from. Hopefully, other people that are searching for it will know where to look.”
Faith and Family
Anybody spending time in the presence of The Isaacs won’t be able to miss the closeness between them all. That often manifests itself in good-natured joshing. “I just turned 50 years old and I have the most blessed life of any man in the world,” Ben says, pausing a beat before adding the sarcastic punchline. “I get to spend my entire life traveling on a bus with my mom and my sisters.”
Kidding aside, The Isaacs are serious about the message that they convey, no matter what kind of music they use to get it across. “Our goal in our whole career has been to bring hope to the hopeless, in any way,” Lily says. “Everybody goes through stuff. With our music, we want people to walk away feeling, ‘I’m not the only one who has gone through this.’ I love the fact that we get to meet such a diverse population.
“My parents were Holocaust survivors,” Lily continues. “The song ‘The American Face’ talks about the diversity of Americans. My children were first-generation Americans. It means a lot to me. We want to remind people that we can get along. We can be brothers and sisters, regardless of who we are. I think that’s the message we want to portray to all the genres we’re in.”
As that message spreads and the honors roll in, the family can’t help but feel humbled by the success. When asked what recent accolade meant the most to them, Ben, otherwise willing to let his sisters and mother steer the conversation, had to chime in first with pride. “We’ve played the Opry for 30 years as guests,” he says. “And then one night, Ricky Skaggs walked out on stage during our performance and introduced us as the newest members. I think we were No. 221 in the 97 years of the history of the Grand Ole Opry to be asked. At our induction, there were only 66 Opry members alive. That’s huge, that’s elite, and that’s mind-blowing that our family that has been primarily a Christian music family group are now Grand Ole Opry members with our heroes. To me, that’s a highlight.”
As for what’s next, the interview was conducted just before the band was ready to announce more specific plans for their next steps. But they did explain in broader strokes what they hope to achieve. “I think The American Face album was different for us in not being an all-gospel album,” Sonya says. “It opened a lot of doors for us. People realized that if we wanted, we could do a whole show of those types of songs. We always stay rooted in what we are and what brought us here, but we’re looking to branch out and stretch our limbs into other genres, specifically into the country world.”
Regardless of what moves they make, we can surmise that, when it comes to The Isaacs, it begins and ends with faith, family, and helping others, through overt acts like their charitable The Isaacs Foundation and via more subtle means, such as a well-aimed song brought home by those pristine voices. “We just can’t help but be family with everybody who comes into our lives,” Sonya summarizes. “We just love people and we love to help and encourage people. Everything that we do, our goal is to be helpful and hopeful.”
Photo by Russ Harrington / Given Entertainment
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