Jobi Riccio – Love Of the Song
Today, Nashville-based songwriter Jobi Riccio shared her new single “Love of the Song,” which serves as her last preview track ahead of her upcoming album Face The Feeling arriving May 15 on Yep Roc Records.
Pulsing with radiant indie rock, the track looks at what it means to use surface-level distractions to avoid addressing deeper truths, and it documents another key moment of growth for the Americana Honors & Awards Emerging Artist of the Year nominee and a John Prine Songwriters Fellowship honoree.
“‘Love of the Song’ was written when I first moved to Nashville and felt overwhelmed by the hustle of life in a town fueled by drinking culture, poor work/life balance, and never really turning ‘off.’ I was struggling to find where I fit into it all, knowing that distraction was unsustainable, but not ready to face the truth that there were bigger problems I wasn’t dealing with under the surface. I’m glad I can empathize with that younger version of myself now and appreciate the growth that came from this period,” shares Riccio about “Love of the Song,” which reflects the deeper emotional reckoning at the core of her upcoming album Face The Feeling.
Whereas her breakthrough debut album Whiplash chronicled coming of age and the search for escape, Face The Feeling finds Riccio confronting emotions she once tried to outrun – grief, rage, self-doubt, and desire – and choosing to sit fully inside the discomfort. Riccio treats each emotion as something unavoidable and illuminated, like a billboard flashing into view at full speed.
Co-produced by Riccio and longtime collaborators Isaiah Beard and Jesse Timm, the new record marks a bold sonic evolution for Riccio. Expanding beyond the folk and country foundations of Whiplash, Riccio moves toward a more electric, indie-rock-driven sound on Face The Feeling.
Written between Colorado and Nashville, Face The Feeling balances light and dark, restraint and release, ecstatic highs and mournful lows. From the rich album opener “A Little at a Time,” to Riccio’s hopeful love song “Idaho,” to the slow-burning, anthemic closer “Doesn’t Matter,” the collection emerges as an exquisite excavation of self with sharp clarity and confidence.
Riccio has previewed the album with singles “Pilar, NM,” “Wildfire Season,” which Ann Powers deemed “protest music at its finest” in NPR Music’s “Best Songs of 2025” list, and “The Ridge.” Last month, she released the gritty “Buzzkill,” which Stereogum called “a spunky, catchy salt-of-the-earth rock song.” Stereogum also noted, “We named Jobi Riccio’s debut Whiplash one of the best country albums of 2023, though her music has at least as much to do with alternative rock.”
Jobi Riccio 2026 North American Tour Dates
April 16 – Aspen, CO – Belly Up Aspen*
April 17 – Santa Fe, NM – Lensic PAC*
April 20 – Tucson, AZ – La Rosa*
April 21 – Ventura, CA – Ventura Music Hall*
April 22 – Menlo Park, CA – The Guild*
April 23 – Crystal Bay, NV – Crystal Bay Casino, Crown Room*
April 24 – Sacramento, CA – Ace of Spades*
April 25 – Boise, ID – Shrine Social Club Ballroom*
April 26 – Boise, ID – Shrine Social Club Ballroom*
June 9 – Vienna, VA – Songwriters Celebrate John Prine @ Wolf Trap
July 2 – Milwaukee, WI – Summerfest 2026
July 9 – Oakbank, MB, Canada – Winnipeg Folk Fest
*Supporting Shakey Graves
#jobiriccio