The Welcome Wagon @ Space 38-39
By: Maya Smith
Posted: May 6, 2009 – New York City, United States
On Wednesday night at the delightful little art gallery Space 38-39, rarely-performing married couple The Welcome Wagon played for a small audience of about 50 people. When I first arrived, I felt like I'd just walked into a party where everyone else knew each other and I didn't know anyone. There were groups of people chatting and drinking around the room. I thought maybe I had walked into the wrong room.
As the night began most people sat on the wood floor of the narrow brick venue. With just some tape separating the performers from the audience, it had the feel of a private show in someone's home.
It proved to be a great little folk-gospel show. The cute Christian indie duo of Thomas Vito Aiuto (or I should say Reverend Thomas Vito Aiuto) and his wife Monique were backed up by a nine-piece band, with an upright piano, a clarinet and sometimes a saxophone, a keyboard, a cello, and two female backup singers. Monique was playing a toy glockenspiel for most of the show, but sometimes switched to the harmonica and triangle, while Vito (as he's known) was on acoustic guitar.
The wholesome songs and hymns were simple but catchy. Think Sufjan Stevens with a female voice. (In fact, the first time I heard The Welcome Wagon I actually thought it was Stevens. No surprise then that Stevens is a Brooklyn neighbor and good friend of the band, going as far as to produce their album for his Asthmatic Kitty label.) The friendly atmopshere was helped by the fact that the whole time they were performing, Vito and Monique were looking at each other. And by the end of the show, they had everyone standing up, stomping and clapping and whistling along to "But For You Who Fear My Name".
As if that weren't enough, the band proved themselves to be worthy of their name, by giving away a couple of gifts during the show. Two lucky people got sausage from their local Polish deli and someone else got a nut loaf of some sort. And once the set was over, the band stayed and mingled, talking to everyone, shaking their hands, taking pictures. The pair were ordinary, welcoming and relaxed, just like their songs.
If only all "church music" could be this good.
