The Welcome Mat (A Sothern Gothic Rock Trilogy) is a love/hate letter to the trailer park that Don Aaron Mixon grew up in, down in the Florida Panhandle of Pensacola. The only things Don Aaron Mixon doesn't play on the album are the drums that Rob Hammersmith contributes and Maria G's fiddle parts, with all the narrations by Lindberg Smith.
The album opens with The Welcome Mat (intro) that tells you about the trailer park that Don Aaron Mixon grew up in, between 1968 and 88, in Pensacola on the Florida Panhandle he comes on like the bastard son of Harry Crews and Lewis Grizzard.
Double Wide Soul is deep blues rocker for that double wide trailer, all the good and evil that went down in that there trailer park, you can take the kid outta the trailer park, but you can never take the trailer park outta that kid, he cooks up a real blues stew, while stealing a riff off of mid 80's Lou Reed, like he wants to ride a hog down through the Delaware gap, rather than Pensacola beach.
The Myth Of Lindberg Smith is an RL Burnside style blues tale of Lindberg Smith who may well be the baddest cat around.
Rock In The Swing has him calling out to his momma once more, calling her down from the mountains of West Virginia, when she got tempted to go and live in that trailer park in the late 60's, the piano and fiddle gentle draw you in to his mum rocking him to sleep on that swing in front of the trailer.
The Welcome Mat (pt2) is a dark tale of 18-year-old heroin addicts and wrestlers, with a narration in the style of Ross Johnson's spoken word pieces on his Make It Stop album, it's same mix of scary and funny, the bullying and hatred of the poor kid from the trailer park, the revenge you eventually have to fight back, to save yourself.
Coal Miner & Little Boy Blue could easily be a Johnny Cougar Mellencamp song for the hard scrabble life of truckers in love with CB Radio and the miraculous survival of that Little Boy and the coal Miner despite everything that happened that day.
Original Spark has a sweet country blues feel, like it's being picked on the porch outside the trailer, you hope and pray the hurricane doesn't destroy your home.
Just Like Her Mama has Don Aaron all mixed up and confused, is this a good thing or something dreadfully scary, should he be a brother, a father, a friend, or a lover? The drama unfolds all will be revealed.
Peeping Tommy & Tammy is spoken word narration for the fear of those peepers at your windows, up to lord knows what, are you ready to repel them if you need too, this is from the darker side of trailer park life.
Pensacola Here I Come is a love letter to the town he calls home, with a slow heartland's blues rock backing, that builds like he really is the Florida Bob Seeger.
Take You back home to the trailer park once more, no matter what fancy hotel you're in he still wants to be back in the trailer once more.
Coldwater Creek is a narrated story about going down to Coldwater Creek and what you'd find there, you dived head first into that water, scintillating blues guitar breaks all over you.
The Welcome Mat (PtII) takes you down to hurricane season, to a murder and other rum goings on in that trailer park, right up to the day it closed down for good.
A Hard Way To Make An Easy Living up before dawn to make that easy living, over a slow blues backing, on a song many of us will know exactly what he's talking about.
My Damn Dad has the feel of an episode of the Dukes Of Hazzard, Don tells us what it is about his dad that drives him mad. The fights, the madness and some of the darker episodes of his childhood.
Immoral Support is a shuffling blues for all the bad behaviour he witnessed as a small kid in that trailer park, the drugs the destitution, the crimes and the craziness that seemed like normal everyday life.
The album closes with The Welcome Mat (Pt III) that tells one last dark tale, of someone running butt nekkid out of the woods, getting run over, before getting up and chasing the car with an Ice Pick, like he was friends with Trotsky's killers, only this guy is outta his mind on Shrooms and Whisky with this and other tales of happenings in the trailer park.
Find out more at https://donaaronmixon.bandcamp.com/album/the-welcome-mat-a-southern-gothic-rock-trilogy https://donaaronmixon2.bandzoogle.com/home https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551120137487
