It’s taken more than six years, even longer for some of the tunes on the album, but vocalist, songwriter, bandleader Isaac Aragon’s new album, The Healing, is here at last, with a vinyl release party at Rio Bravo Brewing on Friday, June 13. It’s well worth the wait. From songwriting to packaging and everything between, it’s a first-class production. The live show will be memorable, all but guaranteed to move body and soul.

Isaac Aragon
The Healing (Soul of NM Music)
A (p)review
It’s so old school, it’s new. An album with a story to tell, a point to make, and a beginning, middle, and end. On 180-gram vinyl, delivered in a pristine, numbered, and informative gatefold package (download and streaming available—hey, it’s 2025). Original tunes (two of them already award winners) steeped in the essence of such musical giants as Bill Withers, Stevie Wonder, and Marvin Gaye, addressing the injustices of the day and finding hope for the future. A songwriting front man, Isaac Aragon, with a commanding, soulful voice, backed by a tight, sympathetic band: Artha Meadors (bass guitar), Paul Palmer III (drums, percussion, bg vocals), Dee Brown (organ, keyboards, piano, bg vocals), Kevin Cummings, Jr. (electric guitar), Chris Carmichael (strings), Ryan Montano (trumpet), Jay Moynihan (saxophone), Keilana Mokulehua (bg vocals). It’s a work of art and a testament to the vision of Isaac Aragon and his healing impulse (he also has a doctorate in physical therapy).

In 2019, Aragon sent some demos to Jim Scott, the seven-time GRAMMY-winning producer of artists such as Sting, Santana, the Rolling Stones, and Tom Petty, and Scott agreed to produce the album in his Los Angeles studio. “I was scheduled to go work with Jim Scott in LA in April of 2020,” says Aragon. The pandemic forced Scott to shut his studio down and cancel the session.

Aragon and his wife had moved temporarily to Hawaii in November 2019 to share their newborn daughter with her family. With the pandemic, they settled in for a longer haul. “Seeing 2020 happen, with COVID, the world shut down, George Floyd, and the civil rights movement and uprising that happened in 2020, I asked myself, ‘What am I going to do? What can I do about this? Where does my power lie. What can I do as a brown man in America? How can I stop this?’ ” he says. “The answer for me, the only thing is this, right here,” he says pointing at the album on the table between us.

“I had all these songs in my notebook,” he says. “It was, like, ‘Well, how am I going to record this? I got to get it down now. The time is now to get this music out.’ ” So in August 2020, Aragon came back to New Mexico and quarantined for several days before taking the band into the studio. They cut the 10 tracks in a week.

The songs move through a progression. “Side A on this record is really pretty dense,” Aragon says. Its songs address current social and political challenges, from police brutality and homelessness (“The Devil’s Garden”) to political division (“Love Bless America,” which won Best R&B at the 2025 New Mexico Music Awards [NMMA] ceremony). The side ends with “Baptized by the Rain,” which “serves as a catapult into a rebirth essentially,” Aragon says. Side B offers a release from the troubled territory of side A, with songs of self-belief (“Brown,” Best R&B at the 2023 NMMA ceremony), love (“Tip of My Tongue”), and gratitude (“All I Got”). The album ends with two ballads written for his kids, dreaming of a kinder world for them.

With the recording completed, Aragon headed back to Hawaii. There, he had a comfortable situation, working by day as a PT and gigging several nights a week, and the album was put on hold again. It wasn’t until 2024, after returning to New Mexico, that he put aside gigging and went to work on producing the album with Meadors. He spent a few days in LA with Jim Scott, who mixed the album. “Sat down at his analog console. Amazing to see this console that mixed records like Supernatural by Santana—and Tom Petty and Sting and these amazing artists.”

With the album mixed and mastered, Aragon went to work researching pressing plants and graphic designers. An avid LP collector, captivated by the sound of vinyl and the rituals of the turntable, Aragon was determined to put together an album worthy—musically, sonically, and visually—of sitting on his shelf beside the iconic soul albums in his collection. He has succeeded indisputably.

On Friday, June 13, Aragon and The Healing, with special guest Kevin Herig (guitar), will celebrate the vinyl release, with vinyl available on site. The vinyl can be ordered online here, where you can also find a digital download. It will also be available locally through One Long Groove, which you can find at Bookworks and other locations, and at solo pop-up performances, which you can learn about on Aragon’s Instagram and Facebook pages (tentatively: June 20 at the Wrecka Stow above Frank’s Famous Chicken and Waffles in Albuquerque and July 5 at the Peñasco Theater in Peñasco, NM). In a week or two, the album will also be available on the usual streaming services.

Isaac Aragon and The Healing
with special guest Kevin Herig
The Healing Vinyl Release Show
June 13 at 7:00 p.m., doors 6:30 p.m.
Rio Bravo Brewing
1912 Second Street NW
Tickets: $15, kids 12 and under free, available here

Check out the limited-edition T-shirts and
fridge magnets at the Musically Speaking store.
Your support is much appreciated.

© 2025 Mel Minter