Isaacs
Bands / Ensembles
The Isaacs (1971–present) is a bluegrass gospel family band. Banjo player and singer Joe Isaacs and his wife, Lily Isaacs, started the group in 1971. The couple had become Christians after Joe's brother died, and the band then performed only gospel music. Lily, the daughter of Polish Jewish Holocaust survivors, had previously sung in a folk duo. Joe had played with the Greenbriar Boys and Ralph Stanley. The band performed as the Calvary Mountain Boys and then Sacred Bluegrass before taking the family name. The couple's children soon joined: Sonya Isaacs on mandolin, Ben Isaacs on bass and Becky Isaacs on guitar. Joe left after he and Lily divorced in 1998, and Lily and her three children have remained the core of the group since. Other members have included Becky's husband, John Bowman; Tim Surrett, who played Dobro while married to Sonya; and Sonya's later husband, songwriter Jimmy Yeary. The album Nature's Symphony in 432 was nominated for the Grammy for Best Roots Gospel Album in 2016. The Isaacs were inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2021 and joined the Grand Ole Opry on September 14, 2021.