(CSC) 1. Tell us about your latest album “Naturally” and the basic premise of its organic structure!

(Sonya Isaacs)

Well “Naturally” is a project that we’ve wanted to do for a long time; Bill Gaither and my brother Ben co-produced this project. It has sixteen songs on it and their all either classics or favorites that we’ve loved down through the years. We did this project specifically to feature the harmonies in an unplugged setting with a stripped down sound without all the production and big sound. What you will find on this album is very acoustic natural like harmonies. That was what our goal was for this project and it turned out great!

(CSC) 2. Finding inspiration from various genres of music, how does this album define your group as a whole?

(Sonya Isaacs)

With our sound, we’ve always been known for our harmony because we are a family and being three siblings and a mother, people pretty much give us compliments on our singing and our musicianship because we play as well. This has been a really unique project and we have drawn inspiration from a lot of different artists down through the years mainly in the Bluegrass field, we’ve loved Ralph Stanley. Of course Bluegrass is known for its harmony so that’s kind of a given when you think of that; you always think of the harmonies and such from those groups. We drew a lot from groups like The Marshall Family in Gospel music, Doyle Lawson, and in country music Reba and Vince Gill; of course Vince kind of has the high lonesome sound too. People like Patty Loveless, Alison Krauss and The Gatlins have been known for harmony singing and they have inspired us so much. Our latest project is definitely a reflection of some of our influences.   

(CSC) 3. When performing in concert, what type of technique do you follow to proportionally blend your harmonies?

(Sonya Isaacs)

It really just comes from practice and from doing it over and over again. We may not ever do the same harmony licks twice the same way and every night it’s kind of spontaneous. Some things we do in a pattern but sometimes we just get up there and because we’ve sung together for so long, the others know what I’m going to do when I’m singing lead because we’ve done it for so long so they know what to expect. (Laughs)

(CSC) 4. Being born in Germany after World War II with your parents both survivors of the Holocaust how did their life experiences shape you personally?

(Lily Isaacs)

I think it has helped me to become a survivor and of course they were survivors. It just incorporated a spirit of fight for survival in my whole life. Everything I’ve ever done or touched, I’m not a quitter, I try to hold on and fight to the bitter end. I think that integrity of what my parents went through has sculpted my life to be a fighter.

(CSC) 5. After becoming a Christian in 1971, what was it that prompted you to devote your life to the Lord?

(Lily Isaacs)

I think it was the feeling of a community of people that will be with you and pray with you and just a spirit of God dwelling in my heart. I had never felt that before and I didn’t know it was there. As a child growing up I didn’t really understand what it was like to have a communication with God. We always went through a Rabbi and never had a one on one feeling with God. When I got saved and found the Lord it was easy to find him whether I was in my car, my bedroom or anywhere that I was I could always find the Lord there with me. Being able to communicate with God and his feeling of peace in my heart has sustained me to be with him.  

(CSC) 6. How has your affluent Christianity played a role in your individual lives?

(Sonya Isaacs)

Being Christians is the most important thing in our life. We grew up in a very religious Christian home, a very Pentecostal strict environment where we weren’t even allowed to listen to country music or secular music; we didn’t even have television’s growing up. It was very hard as children growing up without all the things that other kids enjoyed. As we got older and developed into teenagers and adults we started really studying for ourselves what we felt our convictions were and our dad who would push the stricter lifestyle, started letting us live how we felt was right. Again, being a Christian is really the core of what our music is, it’s what our lives are and it’s not the music that drives us to be Christians, it’s being Christians that drives us to do the music; it is everything that we are. In our lives we’re here to please God in any way that we can to try to find his will and to try to help other people and that’s it!

(CSC) 7. As a family, what are the challenges that come along with being together on and off the stage?!?

(Sonya Isaacs)

Hmmmm that’s a loaded question! (Laughs) Well being a family it has great points and it has some difficult sides to it as well. Starting positively we’re a very close family and we are all really great friends so even when we’re not on the bus if we’re home or going on vacation we go together or we go to Walmart together or out to eat together. (Laughs) We’re just a really close family, a Jewish family you know what I’m saying!! (Laughs) I don’t have children yet, but I’m very close to my brother and sisters children and they feel like my kids so that has been awesome because we have a very strong support system. As for the hardships of being a family out on the road together, I’d have to say that sometimes when you’re with people that you love you’re quick to speak your mind and where if you were with someone that was just a coworker you might bite your tongue. You’re quick to anger but quick to forgive as well. We get tired of each other and we get on each others nerves sometimes but we get over it pretty quickly.

(CSC) 8. What advice would you give to someone who is struggling to turn their life around for the better?

(Sonya Isaacs)

Well the first thing I would assure them is that it doesn’t matter where they’ve been or what they’ve done that God loves them. He is our father and the best way I know how to express God’s love is that a parent just has this innate love for a child that you can’t find anywhere else; their your son or your daughter.

If you think about God as your father, yes we make mistakes and he knows we will and just like our mom or dad knows that we’re going to make mistakes in life and as much as they’d like to stop us from doing that, they can’t always do that and they shouldn’t because then we don’t learn the lessons that we need to know.

God loves us so much and it’s never too late to turn your life around or to start over. You don’t have to be a perfect person to be a Christian. God doesn’t expect you to be perfect, his son was perfect and that’s it. Jesus is the only perfect one.

When we really understand God’s love for us it makes us have the desire deep in our spirit to be better, to be right for him and to love him back. Until we grasp that love that God has, my advice would be to really get to know God. Read the bible and really try to understand through books and through lessons, preaching and church how much God really loves you.

He’s not just a God of judgment; he’s a God of love. He didn’t just come here to send people to hell; he came to take people to heaven and what we do with it is up to us. Just try God, try love, try loving God as he loves us and see how much easier it is to be a Christian.

(CSC) 9. Out of all the many visits you’ve paid to the Grand Ole Opry, what do you treasure most about its splendor of iconic history?

(Sonya Isaacs)

Well I’ll tell ya it’s been kind of sad lately going to the Grand Ole Opry because our good friend Porter Wagoner is no longer with us and Porter was very influential in getting The Isaacs on the Opry as much as we were. He loved The Issacs and he would always insist that we would be on his program and his section of the Opry. One of our greatest treasures from the Grand Ole Opry was being able to have that wonderful relationship with Porter and so many of the staff, and the other Grand Ole Opry members at the Opry. There’s just a spirit back there of oneness of family. When they walk out on stage with their sparkling sequins and their jackets to say hi, in their high heeled shoes and their voices that bellow and echo throughout the rooms, it’s one thing, but when they come backstage its like “Hey sister, hey brother” everything’s just loving and I love that family atmosphere. Bob Whittaker was the general manager of the Opry when we started working there and he was responsible for opening the door for us to start singing on the Opry. Pete Fischer, the new general manager of the Opry has been very gracious to us as well. We just love being there and it’s that thing that you get backstage as an artist that most people won’t ever have the luxury of experiencing, but it is a very special place.

(Country Stars Central)  

Have you ever had the chance to visit with Jack Greene at all?

(Sonya Isaacs)

Oh yeah…We love Jack!! He’s a wonderful friend and he’s done some recording with my family and he’s just a dear man. That’s a perfect example of what I’m talking about with the Opry cast.      

(CSC) 10. How do you manage to pay homage to your roots?

(Sonya Isaacs)

Well the day I graduated High School in 1992 our whole family moved to East Tennessee so I lived there for several years. Becky and Mom still live there with Becky’s family and Mom has a house next door to them. We actually lived there for years before Ben (my brother) and I moved to Nashville. We love whenever we get the chance to go and sing in Ohio because that is where almost all of my childhood memories are. It always feels like going home and seeing family. I don’t think we’ve ever recorded a song about either place, Ohio or East Tennessee except we sing Rocky Top sometimes in some of our concerts where it’s appropriate. We’re proud of where we’re from; in fact the town in East Tennessee that we moved to for years had a sign that said, “Welcome to La Follette, Home of The Isaacs” so that was pretty amazing to get to drive home to every day!  

(CSC) 11. With hectic schedules and the craziness of everyday life, what does each one of you do to find your inner peace?

(Sonya Isaacs)

We all have home churches and most of us get to go on Wednesdays and every now and then we get to go on Sunday’s when we’re not out on tour but we’ve found that it’s a matter of church and then finding time to get by ourselves and just spend time with God whether its through prayer or reading the bible. Sometimes out on the road we have prayer together and we have bible study. We try to do things as a family too and we’re in church a lot because we sing in a lot of churches too so we’re just in a constant environment of family, praise and loving God so it’s easy to do that.    

For more information on The Isaacs, view their official website here: http://theisaacs.musiccitynetworks.com/

Enjoy our picture with The Isaacs after our interview backstage: