'It was crazy': 2023 Newport Folk Festival launched Jobi Riccio's career, why she returned

NEWPORT – Jobi Riccio cried not once but thrice during her second-ever set at the Newport Folk Festival. She just couldn’t believe her luck.

“I’ve wanted to go as an attendee for years,” Riccio said. “I didn’t imagine that my first time at Newport I would be playing in any capacity, small stage or not.”

Riccio returned to Fort Adams having debuted in Newport last year as the festival’s John Prine Songwriter Fellowship Award winner. She is the second musician to receive the award, the winners of which are hand-selected by Prine’s family and is meant to recognize young artists that “embody Prine’s spirit.” In addition to getting a slot at the festival, the artists also get to participate in a week-long songwriting retreat at Almanack Arts Colony in Narragansett.

“It was crazy,” Riccio said. “It really was such an eye-opening experience. I’ve never played a festival this size before and getting to meet the Prine family and develop a relationship with them, it was a magical dream come true. I had my jaw on the floor the whole weekend.”

After her Newport debut in 2023, Riccio’s career blossomed. She released her debut album, "Whiplash," that September, nabbed a television debut as a part of NBC’s Saturday Sessions and is set to perform at the Grand Ole Opry this August.

“I’ve had people all year coming to my shows saying they saw me on the Foundation Stage at Newport Folk and I had a 20-minute set,” Riccio said. “Having people show out and being able to bring my band, that’s the dream. Total fulfillment.”

Even with her newfound stardom, she’s a music fan and festival-goer at heart, rushing in hopes to hear Andrew Bird and Madison Cunningham’s set on Sunday. As such, she owed a lot of her exponential success to the Newport Folk community.

“This community, this fanbase, the way that they go so hard for artists – we don’t always feel the love at festivals, we don’t, especially small artists on the rise like me, so to feel that love from people who wander up and don’t know who I am and leave and come to my shows all over the country, that’s why artists love this festival and dream of playing it.”

This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Jobi Riccio returns to Newport Folk Festival after 2023 debut