Jobi Riccio's Face The Feeling blends Americana storytelling with the restless pulse of indie rock. The Nashville singer-songwriter delivers an electric exploration of self-discovery, growth, and courage.
Face The Feeling arrives as the sound of Jobi Riccio choosing to stand still and look straight ahead. Following her 2023 debut Whiplash, the Colorado-born songwriter steps into a sharper, more electric frame of mind, trading folk and country comfort for an indie-rock edge that better fits the emotional weight she is carrying now.
Whiplash introduced Riccio as a restless voice in motion, a coming-of-age record shaped by escape and forward momentum. Face The Feeling moves in the opposite direction. These songs stay put. Grief, anger, self-doubt, desire, devotion. Riccio sits with each one, letting the tension breathe instead of outrunning it. Written between Colorado and Nashville and co-produced with Isaiah Beard and Jesse Timm, the album balances light and dark, restraint and release, as Riccio leans into discomfort as a path forward.
Songs like “Pilar, NM,” “Wildfire Season,” and “Doesn’t Matter” underline that shift. The arrangements are bigger, the guitars louder, and the emotional stakes clearer. Riccio’s voice remains steady and direct, but the world around it has widened, giving her room to explore contradiction without sanding down the edges.
That expansion feels earned. Since Whiplash, Riccio has been named an Emerging Act of the Year nominee by the Americana Music Association, honored with the John Prine Songwriters Fellowship, appeared at the Grand Ole Opry, made her national television debut on CBS Saturday Morning, and toured with Lucius, Jason Isbell, and Iron & Wine.
Riccio’s musical foundation has always been broad. Growing up in Colorado, she absorbed country, bluegrass, and folk through songwriters like John Prine and Joni Mitchell, with the Chicks and Nickel Creek filling the local airwaves. At the same time, she was digging through her sister’s CD collection and music blogs pointing her toward the Killers and the Strokes. That dual pull finally locks into place here.
Face The Feeling captures Riccio at a moment of clarity, not because the answers are easy, but because she is willing to stay with the questions. It is her most confident and expansive work so far, a clear marker of an artist stepping into her next chapter on her own terms.