The Rev. Vito Aiuto and his wife Monique make up The Welcome Wagon, a folk-gospel duet borne out of the living-room sing-a-long tradition. The group was unofficially formed in 2001 with their appearance on the Asthmatic Kitty compilation To Spirit Back the Mews (2001), debuting the first song they ever wrote and recorded, “There is a Fountain Filled with Blood.” Since that time they have been patiently recording an album of hymns, pop covers, and folksy originals with their friend and Brooklyn neighbor Sufjan Stevens. The Welcome Wagon have intermittently played at bars, parties, and seminaries throughout the tri-state area, often joined by friends on upright bass, drums, piano, and banjo. But their most familiar venue is the living room, where husband and wife strum guitar and auto harp, flipping through Methodist hymnals and shape-note songbooks, transcribing sacred songs into family style jingles.
The Welcome Wagon live in Brooklyn, New York. |
