Jobi Riccio

Jobi Riccio approaches songwriting as a singer and songwriter whose poetic bent merges with an unflinchingly candid viewpoint, channeling classic country, present-day folk traditions, and the enduring appeal of notable songwriters from earlier and current generations. Her initial EP, Strawberry Wine, released in 2019, positioned her voice in a honky-tonk light, yet a shift toward deeper and more introspective lyrics gradually infused her sound with broader, more individualized shades. That evolution surfaced fully on her debut album, Whiplash, issued in 2023, where Americana melodies gained an added indie dimension within a more assertive and intimate framework.

Raised in Morrison, Colorado, a community twenty miles outside Denver that hosts the renowned Red Rocks Amphitheater, Riccio developed an early attachment to country and roots material and started composing during adolescence. Upon finishing secondary school she traveled to Boston to enroll at the Berklee College of Music. Recognition followed quickly: she reached the finals of the 2018 Rocky Mountain Folks Festival Songwriters Showcase and, in 2019, earned Berklee’s Lee Villiare Scholarship while also claiming victory in that year’s NewSong Music Competition. Buoyed by these milestones, she tracked and independently issued the three-song Strawberry Wine EP, whose tone stayed rooted in the country vocalists she had admired since childhood. In 2020 she relocated from Boston back to Colorado and performed at that edition of the Sundance Film Festival.

As her material grew more confessional, Riccio scheduled sessions at producer Gar Ragland’s Asheville, North Carolina studio, where he urged her to explore the aesthetics of admired artists such as Joni Mitchell, Phoebe Bridgers, and Bonny Light Horseman. Remote contributions from additional musicians enriched the tracks, and the resulting collection became Whiplash, released in 2023. The title evoked the abrupt personal transformations she experienced in early adulthood and encompassed the track “Sweet,” which she characterized as “the self-love anthem I wish I’d had growing up as a young queer kid who listened religiously to Top 40 country radio.” Yep Roc Records brought the album out in September 2023; earlier that year Riccio received the John Prine Songwriter Fellowship Award and performed for the first time at the Newport Folk Festival.