XPoNential Music Festival lineup announced: Norah Jones, Nathaniel Rateliff, Mavis Staples are headliners
The festival draws the largest crowds at night to Camden's BB&T Pavilion, but the great majority of bands play during the day and into the early evening next door in the open air at Wiggins Park. The action starts Friday, July 31 and rolls on through Sunday, Aug. 2.
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The XPoNential Music Festival will return to Camden July 31 through Aug. 2, with headliners including Norah Jones, Nathaniel Rateliff, Mavis Staples, and the Marcus King Band.
Announced Monday, those acts — along with singer Grace Potter and Black Pumas, the Austin, Texas duo who were best new artist nominees at this year’s Grammys — will be playing at the BB&T Pavilion portion of the fest, which is the signature annual event produced by adult-alternative station WXPN-FM (88.5).
Rateliff won’t be performing with his hard-driving back group the Night Sweats, but with a band the Denver songwriter employs on his new solo album, And It’s Still Alright. He’ll be joined by Potter and King at the BB&T on Saturday, Aug. 1.
Jones, who kicks off her 2020 tour at the New Orleans Jazz Festival on April 26, will close out the XPoNential fest on Sunday, Aug. 2, at the BB&T. The sultry-voiced pianist tops a cool triple bill along with much-loved octogenarian gospel great Staples, as well as the Black Pumas.
The BB&T nights at #Xpnfest draw the biggest crowds, but the great majority of bands play during the day and into the early evening in the open air at Wiggins Park next door. That action starts on Friday, July 31, and rolls on through Sunday.
Eighteen Wiggins bands are being announced now, with probably 10 more to be added in coming weeks.
Marquee names include Canadian power-pop ensemble New Pornographers; 1990s alt-rock star Liz Phair; Jay Farrar-led Americana stalwarts Son Volt; folk-rock songwriter Citizen Cope; bluegrass banjo and guitar virtuoso Molly Tuttle; Haitian guitarist Paul Beaubrun; rising Nashville songwriter Michaela Anne, and blues guitarist Samantha Fish.
Locally connected acts at the fest will be plentiful. Highest on the bill is Devon Gilfillian, who grew up in Morton, Delaware County, and is now based in Nashville. The soul-rock songwriter and impressively agile vocalist has seen his profile rise since the release of his debut album Black Hole Rainbow in January.
Other hometown acts on the bill: Philly-born Brooklyn indie pop singer Anna Shoemaker; folk sextet Stella Ruze; electro-pop trio Great Time; tight West Philly dance band Arthur Thomas and the Funkitorium, and 1980s local rock legends Tommy Conwell & the Young Rumblers.
XPoNential Music Festival tickets and passes go on sale in a variety of configurations on Friday at 10 a.m. through xpnfest.org.