I understand the tardiness of this blog and I give my apologies. I will spare you from the excuses and just get to the point.

Who is The Welcome Wagon? The easy answer would be to say they are just a band that makes oddly refreshing music. The more insightful answer is the one to come. Yes, the Reverend Thomas Vito Aiuto and his wife Monique make refreshingly odd music, but they also create music that has such depth and truth to it.

Thomas grew up in Michigan but moved to New York for seminary and ended up planting a church in Brooklyn. His wife has a somewhat similar story. She grew up in the same town and moved to New York for educational purposes (studying art at Columbia University). They married, they have a band. They started out just making music in their house. Thomas picked up a guitar, not knowing how to play it, but desiring to sing songs of praise with his family, while his wife grabbed a harmonica with the same heart. Thomas writes lyrics filled with theological depth, while Monique is the resident visual artist.

What genre would I classify their music in? Well, I would definitely place it in the indie category, but at the same time I would say it’s pretty gospel. Yes, The Welcome Wagon is an Indie Gospel band. You don’t see many of those these days.

We play a couple of their songs here on the radio. Every time I hear the lyrics I feel so encouraged and I am constantly reminded of the love that Christ has for us.

Here are lyrics from the song “Up on a Mountain”

Up on a mountain our Lord is alone
Without a family, friends or a home
He cries ooh, ooh, ooh, will you stay with me?
He cries oh, oh, oh, will you wait with me?

Up on a mountain our Lord is afraid
Carrying all the mistakes we have made
And He knew, it’s a long way down
Do you know, it’s a long way down?

Up in the heavens our Lord prays for you
He sent his spirit to carry us through
So it’s true that you’re not alone
Do you know He came all the way down?

So it’s true that you’re not alone
Do you know He came all the way down?

It’s just so good to hear music that is uplifting in both style and lyrics. I’m the kind of person that hears the music before I hear the lyrics. I can listen to a song twenty times and never know what the song is about, but I could tell you everything you would need to know about the music and melody. The Welcome Wagon has made it so easy for me to get better at listening to the lyrics and content of a song. The music is unique, the lyrics are filled with truth, and truth is always awesome.

To listen to their music check out their myspace or website.

A Blog By Elisha Guido