On the morning Isaiah Fisher was supposed to go to the recording studio with his mom, nobody had to tell him what to wear. The 5-year-old got himself dressed and came down the stairs in the jeans he wore to church, a button-down shirt and a little black fedora.
Carrie Underwood took one look at him and told him he had really dressed up. Her son had a reason ready, and she later shared it in an essay for Guideposts:
“I’m gonna go sing for Jesus, so I wanted to look nice.”
He was about to record “Little Drummer Boy” with her for My Gift, her first Christmas album, released on September 25, 2020.
It Had to Be His Idea
Carrie Underwood had long counted “Little Drummer Boy” among her favorite carols. What moved her was how honest the story is: a poor boy watches the wise men bring their gold, frankincense and myrrh to the baby Jesus, has nothing like that to give, and decides to play his drum instead. She took the album’s title, My Gift, straight from the song’s words.
She has said that whenever she thought of the song, she pictured Isaiah’s face and personality. So she asked him whether he would like to sing it with her. In Guideposts she explained that the decision could not be forced: it had to be his idea, not something she told him to do. Isaiah’s reply was short. “Okay, Mommy.”
Line by Line, Word by Word
There was one practical problem. Isaiah could not read very well yet, so a lyric sheet was not going to help. Mother and son went through the song at home line by line, word by word, until he had it.
Carrie Underwood said they went in without knowing how it would turn out and tried not to put any pressure on him. In the studio, with headphones on and the microphone in front of him, she wrote that he “sounded like a pro.” She stayed in the vocal booth with him, encouraging him and, as she told People, trying to remind him what words were coming up next.
She joked that she felt a little like a stage mom, coaxing out “all his little 5-year-old emotions.” He did not need much help. She said he was so expressive that he kept throwing his hands up into the air while he sang.
On the finished track, Carrie sings the opening, and Isaiah’s voice comes in on the second verse, the one where the drummer boy tells the baby that he is poor too and has no gift fit for a king.
Laughing and Crying
The moment that got her came later, when the vocals were put together and she could hear his voice alongside her own. She described it to People:
“I was laughing, and I was crying, and it was just very overwhelming in a good way.”
According to an ABC Audio account of that interview, the tears started when she heard Isaiah sing the drummer boy’s admission that he is a poor boy too. She called herself “the proudest mom in the world,” and told Today simply, “I’m so proud of him.”
A Moment Captured
The album credits the track as “Little Drummer Boy” featuring Isaiah Fisher. That December, fans got to see the session for themselves in My Gift: A Christmas Special From Carrie Underwood on HBO Max, which showed mother and son together in the studio.
Before the special premiered, Carrie Underwood posted a photo of the two of them at the microphone. She wrote that she was “so happy we captured the sweetest voice in this special moment in time,” and called Isaiah her own Little Drummer Boy.