Americana singer-songwriter Jobi Riccio talked with The Current’s Morning Show about growing up in Colorado, making the big move to Nashville, her latest album Face the Feeling, and performing at The Current’s Happy Hour series.

Listen to the full interview in the player above, and find a complete transcript below.

Interview Transcript

Jill Riley: You're listening to The Current, I'm Jill Riley. The Current Happy Hour series continues starting this afternoon at Sociable Cider Werks in Northeast Minneapolis. I'll be there, spinning some tunes, starting at 4 o'clock and as these Current Happy Hours go, then we have a special performance, and singer-songwriter Jobi Riccio will be taking the stage at 6 o'clock. So I've got Jobi Riccio on the line. How are you? And we're so excited to have you at the Happy Hour today.

Jobi Riccio: Yeah, I'm so excited to be back in Minneapolis and be chatting with you all today.

Jill Riley: Before we dig into the new record, you are a new artist to a lot of folks that are listening to The Current, I want to talk about where you're from. I mean, I know you live in Nashville now, but you grew up in Colorado, near an iconic outdoor venue that is such a bucket list for so many people, and I'm talking about Red Rocks. So, can you tell me where you're from, and what it was like to grow up there?

Jobi Riccio: Yeah, so the town where I'm from is called Morrison, Colorado, and it's right where Red Rocks Amphitheater is. I always like to tell people I went to Red Rocks Elementary School, which literally, sometimes people will turn into the entrance to my elementary school thinking that it's the entrance to the park.

Jill Riley: Oh funny.

Jobi Riccio: Yeah. And we used to do our fire drills, we would literally walk up to the amphitheater, so not really like a normal elementary school, it was a very enchanted experience growing up there, I would say. A lot of outdoor access. I feel like everyone who grew up there, especially that I went to that elementary school with, we have a lot of pride about it. I think I always knew that I wanted to be a singer, but I didn't always know that I wanted to be like a capital "M" musician, and it's really crazy. I think now, as an adult, being a touring musician, this is my main job. Thinking back on having grown up there is such a head trip, but I didn't know any better, in the moment. I mean, I have siblings too, who do other jobs, it is my life goal, I think, to play there eventually.

Jill Riley: I hope so. What a full circle moment that will be someday, by the way. I don't want to say "if." I want to throw it out there as "when." Jobi Riccio is with The Current. Jobi, you mentioned you have siblings. I also have siblings. I have an older brother and older sister, both, maybe my sister a little more, I would say, informed a lot of my music taste, and I wonder if you had that experience with your siblings.

Jobi Riccio: Funnily enough, both of my sisters did. I'm one of three sisters, and the youngest, and my oldest sister probably informed my music taste the most. She introduced me to indie rock. A lot of what we heard, just sort of around was country music. I always think about, on the school bus, going to school, our bus drivers listened to country music. And I really loved country music growing up too, but I feel like, yeah, both of my sisters loved Avril Lavigne and Paramore, and my other sister was more into pop, and, I think I would have been interested in that, maybe, no matter what, but I think she helped keep me somewhat culturally relevant, I'd like to think.

Jill Riley: From what you said, it really sounds like you were drawn to country music, and so at what point did you decide, okay, I'm gonna pursue this?

Jobi Riccio: There wasn't really one point. I think that I always kind of knew that it was my big dream. I always loved to sing as a little kid, and I knew that I wanted to perform. I just didn't really know in what capacity, and then I think maybe once I started writing my own songs and working up the courage to show them to people, and as they got better, as I wrote more and practiced more, and got older into high school, I think that's when I realized. And I actually met professional musicians through the Colorado bluegrass scene, and I realized it's not just celebrities that do this. Growing up, my parents weren't musicians, I didn't know any musicians. I think meeting musicians who were working musicians, made me realize, oh, I could have a career in this, and it might not be like a pop star necessarily, or celebrity, but it's a meaningful way to make a life, and it's a beautiful, creative way to live your life.

Jill Riley: For sure. So, you started meeting and working with the working musicians, who really, you find them in every community. So, you start developing as a singer, as a songwriter. When did you make the move to Nashville?

Jobi Riccio: I moved here almost — it'll be five years in September.

Jill Riley: Yeah, and in Nashville you were recognized two years ago, nominated for an Americana Award for Emerging Artist, and on The Current Morning Show, we've been talking a lot about the recently announced Americana nominees. Going back and looking at the artists that were nominated for Emerging Artist, and then your name is in there as well. What was that like for you?

Jobi Riccio: Hearing the nomination, I was on tour, and I remember saying to another artist and friend, mentor of sorts, I was like, “this feels kind of soon, don't you think?” And she was like no, why is it too soon, why do you think that? And I was like “I don't know,” and she was like I think you're being silly. There's a lot of behind the scenes stuff that goes into all that, but also some of it is just kind of like right place right time and I think the Americana Association, a lot of those people live in Nashville, and I started to get a lot of buzz around Nashville around my first record, and it stayed on the radio charts for a really, really long time, and that had a huge impact on how I got nominated for that award. So it's funny that I had this sort of like imposter syndrome response to it, but then when I got to the award ceremony, I feel like, Americana Fest is kind of like SXSW, where it's this really amazing experience for people going to see music. When I don't play all the showcases, and I'm not as worn out from the work element of it, I totally love it, because I don't have to travel, and I can just bop and see all my friends who've traveled in from all over, and just take in so much music.

But it can be an absolute marathon of just okay, play show, another show, another show. It's a festival, it's back to back to back to back, and they book so many people, they cram it in. They try to make it, I guess, worth your while if you're going to do it. But I think that I got to a place that year I was really proud of myself, where I felt really able to receive that award, or the nomination, sorry. I didn't win the award, which also felt very right, it felt right to just be like able to go to the award ceremony and feel really grateful for that opportunity, and I got to play one of my songs, and it's actually how I ended up connecting with Sam Beam of Iron & Wine. He saw me play at the awards ceremony, and came up and introduced himself, and I freaked out, because I've been a fan of his for years and years, and then we ended up doing a tour together, like a year and a half later. So, it's cool to see also all the people who are nominated, like Kaitlin Butts is someone I think about who is nominated in that category, she's gone on to just blow up.

Jill Riley: Was that the year that Sierra Ferrell, kind of cleaned up?

Jobi Riccio: Yeah, Sierra won everything.

Jill Riley: Yeah I'm a big fan of Sierra Ferrell as well.

Jobi Riccio: She was like "I don't even know what to say."

Jill Riley: So, as part of that award ceremony, you performed at the award ceremony, at the Ryman Auditorium, which, I mean, I've been there a couple times to see shows, and it feels like if you're going to have any sort of musical religious experience. I felt the presence of all of the history in that venue, in that room. What was it like to be on that stage?

Jobi Riccio: Yeah, well, I think I was lucky in that I kind of got like a warm-up for that experience in this great Canadian artist William Prince let me come sing background vocals for him at the Americana Awards the year before. So I got sort of a warm up to what it would feel like to play that experience, and I opened for The Wood Brothers with my band at the Ryman. So thankfully it wasn't the very first time I had been on the stage. I think that would have been so overwhelming, but it still was. I mean, every, all those three times, it's been absolutely insane to be there. Also I work still, I work all these side jobs to make a living, because it's really hard to be in music, if you don't have outside funding, and I work a catering job, and there were people from my catering job catering the Ryman that night, and I was like, I could have been working this job. It's just a reminder that musicians are working people.

Jill Riley: Jobi Riccio is on the line. So, based in Nashville, from Morrison, Colorado, in Minneapolis tonight for The Current Happy Hour series at Sociable Cider Works. I'll be kicking things off. I'll be spinning some tunes to get you warmed up and to soundtrack your afternoon. Jobi Riccio will take the stage at 6 o'clock. And we've been playing a couple songs from the new record Face the Feeling, tell us about the song "Love of the Song." It's one that we've been playing on The Current.

Jobi Riccio: So it's a song I wrote about my early experience moving to Nashville, and it comes from a vulnerable place of struggling with my mental health, but also I think reckoning with things that no longer served me, and I think coming to a better place ultimately, and I'm really proud of the work the song allowed me to do, and it was sort of, yeah, it represents a moment in time for me. I thought for a while it would be sort of an unrelatable song for people. I remember playing it for my friend, who I think she's a paralegal in Nashville, and she was like, no, I feel this way here sometimes, or I feel this way moving to a new city. Sometimes your personal experience, something you write about, you think, oh, I don't know if anyone will relate to this. People, as I do when I listen to music, put their own experience on it when they listen and that's the beauty of music.

Jill Riley: And I think that's the beauty of country music as well. The heart is out being exposed, and we're drawn to those songs. That's what draws people, I think, especially to country music. Well, Jobi Riccio, looking forward to seeing you this evening. Thank you so much for checking in with The Current ahead of time. We hope to get a good crowd out to see you in Minneapolis.

Jobi Riccio: Yeah thank you so much for having me.

Credits

Guests – Jobi Riccio
Host – Jill Riley
Producer – Nilufer Arsala
Digital Producer - Natalia Toledo

External Link

Jobi Riccio – Official Website