Root Down in the Shadow

Wooo Hooooo It's XPoNential Fest Time!!!!  Every year WXPN brings a ton of great bands and artists to the Wiggins Park shore in Camden, NJ.  With so many bands on the line-up it's daunting to figure out which bands to see.  Fortunately, the way WXPN does the line-ups you CAN make it to every band should you choose.  However, we all know it's going to be hot as hell.  Not quite as hot as 2011 with the 100 degree days, but still super hot.   Luckily for us, some of the festival performers have put in their two cents for which bands they are excited about. Rosemary Fiki   starts the fest at 4pm today on the JerseyArts.Com Marina Stage. Let's see what she's recommending: Band Most Excited to Share the Festival Stage with : This is our first time time performing at XPoNential so to be completely honest, I'm super stoked to share the Festival stage with everyone! If I absolutely had to choose, I would say The Districts. We actually share...

The 21st Edition of WXPN's Summer Music Festival was quite the success!  Just a little lightning Sunday night was the only scare as the entire weekend went off without a hitch. No storm, no sick artists, great crowds, happy crowds , and incredible performances.   There was so much to see, it's near impossible to recap it all.   So, for our best attempt to hit all the high points, here are The 2014 XPoNential Music Festival Presented by Subaru  AWARDS: Photo by Dan McGurk Best Performance :  Hands down this was Man Man .  The JerseyArts.com Marina Stage was overrun by fans to eager to see Man Man, many of whom skipped the entire Lake Street Dive set, even cheering on the band's sound check.  Honus , Pow , Shono , and Brown Sugar put on an inspired show geared toward blowing minds.  Taking all the hits from On Oni Pond and mixing in more of their ongoing collection, the hometown Philly band had the intensity and moves of...

American Diamond Recordings , Philadelphia's newest collective had a really big weekend.  The newly minted label, home of Ron Gallo / Toy Soldiers / The Lawsuits / TJ Kong and the Atomic Bomb / Levee Drivers had major appearances across the North-East.  The Lawsuits opened the River stage on Sunday at the 2014 XPoNential Music Festival Presented by Subaru while on Thursday night; Toy Soldiers played the Newport Folk Festival kick-off party!  The Levee Drivers and TJ Kong & the Atomic Bomb are never ones to steer away from the fun, so they popped-up at XPNfest as well.   In the very brief cross-over between River stage and JerseyArts.com Marina stage, The American Diamond bands took up shop on the concourse playing songs between sets.   First, Levee Drivers, joined by TJ Kong and the Atomic Bomb members TJ Kong & Josh Machiz, took the lead for a song playing "Bound By That Ride" immediately after the Lawsuits XPNfest set.  Af...

Across the globe, music festivals are getting larger and larger with dozens of bands gracing multiple stages.  One festival, XPoNential Festival , bucks this trend and still has only two stages at a time with a major effort taken to prevent overlapping live music.  A favorite for many, this festival comes together each year with such great bands and such few issues.  If you're wondering what their secrets are, now's your time to find out.  Root Down In The Shadow recently had the opportunity to connect with Paul Severin - Events Producer for WXPN to get all of our questions answered, finding out what goes into planning XPoNential Festival [FOR LINEUP & TICKETS - Click over to XPN.ORG ] What is it about an artist that catches your attention or makes them a good fit for the festival? Just like what we decide to play on WXPN, first and foremost we simply think about what our listeners will connect with the most musically as simple as that may sound. W...

It's our favorite time of the year: XPoNential Festival time!  Like most things here at Root Down In The Shadow we're going to take a band-centric view of the festival and let them tell you who to go see this year at the 2014 XPoNential Music Festival Presented by Subaru, brought to you by WXPN . SATURDAY - RIVER STAGE - 12:30 PM-1:00 PM Davis Howley - Vox/Guitar - Commonwealth Choir Band Most Excited to Share the Festival Stage with : " Jenny Lewis & Dawes are both really significant to the band.  Rilo Kiley (Jenny Lewis' former band) was sort of the cross over artist for us, as teenagers moving from punk & hardcore to a new genre, they exposed us to country & folk in a modern way, but still bad-ass & sexy.  It's really expertly crafted music." Band Most Excited to see live at #XPNFest :   "We all became obsessed with Dawes .  Individually we started going to see them at shows, covering them at parties, drawin...