The Lewis Family story starts on October 25, 1925. On that date, Roy Lewis used a ladder to take his fifteen-year-old beau, Pauline Holloway, from her home to elope in McCormick, South Carolina. Their marriage would last 77 years, until Pauline ("Mom Lewis") passed away in 2003. (Pop Lewis passed away the next year, at age 98.) Roy and Pauline had eight children: Miggie, Wallace, Esley, Mosley, Talmadge, Polly, Janis and Roy (Little Roy) Lewis.

Several of the Lewis brothers (Talmadge, Esley, Wallas, and sometimes Little Roy) performed as "The Lewis Brothers"; the group took on the name "The Lewis Family" in 1951, for an appearance singing Gospel music for the Woodman of the World in Thomson, Georgia.

The Happy Goodman helped introduce the Lewis Family to Gospel audiences; after hearing the Lewis Family at a church in their home country, Rusty Goodman was so impressed that he got them on the Wally Fowler all-night singing at the Bell Auditorium in Augusta, Georgia. In April 1954, the family started their own weekly TV show on WJBF-TV in Augusta, Georgia; they set a national record by continuing the program for 38 years, through 1992. They continued to tape annual Christmas shows for WJBF until the groups' retirement.

The Lewis Family started touring full-time in the early 1960s. Appearances in Oklahoma in 1969 led to an invitation from Bill Grant to appear at his bluegrass festival the next year. From that introduction to the bluegrass circuit, they ended up playing at over fifty bluegrass festivals per year, in addition to their concerts on the Gospel circuit.

The Lewis Family came to Vine Records / Crossroads for would end up as their final recording, Flyin' High. Declining health lead them to announce its retirement in May 2009; they performed their farewell concert in Lincolnton, NC.

The Lewis Family won several Dove Awards, and received inductions into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame (1992) and the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor (2006). Pop Lewis was inducted into the Southern Gospel Music Hall of Fame in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, in 2000.