Dear Young Rocker

Dear Young Rocker

Dear Young Rocker is a scripted non-fiction musical story. Start at Episode 1! In seasons 1 and 2, host/creator Chelsea Ursin tells her own story of finding an outlet for anxiety and her place in the world via falling in love with listening to and playing rock music. Along the way she writes letters of advice to her younger self on topics from mental health to relationships. In season 3, guest musicians are invited to tell their stories and write to their own younger selves. Season 4 is hosted by Nadia Marie who tells her own story of becoming a musician and a major life event that changed her relationship with music and herself.

Episodes

January 8, 2020 4 mins
A podcast memoir about finding a home in rock music and learning to flourish in your own weird way. Created and narrated by Chelsea Ursin, executive produced by Jake Brennan (Disgraceland). Season one features twelve episodes, premiering January 15th with new episodes releasing weekly on Wednesdays. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn ...
Mark as Played
In this first episode, we travel back to the early 2000’s, get to know young Chelsea and experience first hand her struggles with anxiety, problems with being a girl, and why music is so important. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mark as Played
January 15, 2020 35 mins
Young Chelsea brings us back to the strange landscape of middle school and recounts how she discovered and fell in love with her favorite band and playing bass. Old Chelsea provides some much-needed advice about making and keeping friends. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mark as Played
January 22, 2020 36 mins
In this installment of the story young Chelsea goes to her first big show (Green Day), attends a band practice for the first time, although not in the way she anticipated, and searches the internet for people who feel like she does about music. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mark as Played
January 29, 2020 32 mins
Chelsea's long held dream comes true as she experiences the rush of joining her first band and playing her first live rock show. Everything seems to finally be lining up. Even a surprise appearance by the cop's can't get her down. Older Chelsea explains the difference between the right way and the wrong way to build one's self-esteem. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/list...
Mark as Played
February 5, 2020 40 mins
A trip to the local fair for young Chelsea and her band ends up a little more eventful than she had planned for. Like with any group of high school friends, things can get sticky in a band when relationships form. Older Chelsea explains the power of saying "no thank you." Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. ...
Mark as Played
February 12, 2020 42 mins
Tensions in the band have been high. Young Chelsea makes some mistakes and tries to do her best to hold things together to keep the music going. Older Chelsea tells her to remember that when anxiety speeds you up that you must slow yourself down. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoic...
Mark as Played
February 19, 2020 39 mins
Junior year of high school is usually the time when kids have hit their stride and have found their crew. But things are still pretty complicated for young Chelsea. She's dealing with the urges of others and herself. The only thing keeping her grounded is the music. But is it enough? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ...
Mark as Played
February 26, 2020 45 mins
Senior year and graduation is cracked up to be the pinnacle of high school, but Chelsea isn't feeling much school spirit. She just wants out, and is looking forward to college but her cello teacher doesn't think music school is for her. She makes a painful decision to give up what she loves most. Without music, life is even more confusing and scary but older Chelsea reassures her that high school isn't everything and that she has s...
Mark as Played
March 4, 2020 43 mins
Chelsea presses pause on her own story and passes the mic to five other rockers. Members of the bands Palehound (Ellen Kempner and Larz Brogan), Summer Cannibals (Jess Boudreaux and Cassi Blum) and Worriers (Lauren Denitzio) add their own experiences to the collective Dear Young Rocker story of finding a voice in music, and give some straight-talking advice to their younger selves, such as to just “stick with it." Learn more abo...
Mark as Played
March 11, 2020 45 mins
Young Chelsea's first semester of college is an adjustment and she isn't sure about being a biology major. She finds one person who "gets it" though she can't say the same for her roommate. She wonders if once again she's just surrounded by the wrong people, or is it her? Older Chelsea gives a brief explanation on consent in response to the actions of a creepy guy from orientation. Songwriter Stef Chura talks about her own adolesce...
Mark as Played
March 18, 2020 39 mins
College is a time to try out different for yourself and Chelsea does just that with a 180 degree major switch from Biology to Music and Sound Recording Technology. Once again despite feeling in her heart that she's probably on the right path, outside factors threaten to scare her away from it before she even starts. Musician Ella Williams, known as Squirrel Flower (Polyvinyl Records) sends in a letter to her young musician self.  ...
Mark as Played
March 25, 2020 47 mins
In this final episode of season one, young Chelsea starts coming up against some obstacles in her new chosen major of music and sound recording. She is feeling inadequate in her musical ability once again and it hinders her bonding with her classmates. Against her own instincts, she continues an internet-based relationship. Musician and poet Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz chimes in with a guest letter describing her own early songwri...
Mark as Played
August 19, 2020 4 mins
Dear Young Rocker Season 2 launches August 26th, 2020. Tune in for a raw, honest, and strange story about finding yourself in your early 20's and a life-long relationship with music, along with some heartfelt advice along the way. This season will pick up right where Season 1 left off; Chelsea is in college trying to find her place in the world and figuring out what role music will play in her life. Make sure you're all caught up o...
Mark as Played
August 26, 2020 39 mins
In the Season 2 premiere of Dear Young Rocker, we find young Chelsea where we left her - in college as a sound recording technology major. She falls in love with editing tape but starts getting distracted by self-comparison and ‘extra-curricular activities.’ She wants to make only perfect choices, but older Chelsea lets her know that’s just not realistic. For more visit dearyoungrocker.com and follow @dearyoungrocker on instagram. ...
Mark as Played
August 26, 2020 42 mins
Choosing a major, or sticking with one, can be pretty stressful. Chelsea decides to take a break from thinking about it and joins a new yoga class instead. She feels great for the first time in a while, and more importantly, feels like she knows exactly where she wants to be for once. Older Chelsea reminds her again that there is no perfect choice and that the belief in one existing is what’s causing her existential dread in the fi...
Mark as Played
September 2, 2020 43 mins
With no music in her life for the foreseeable future, Chelsea has found a way to fill the hole in her life by getting more deeply involved with the yoga classes she’s been attending. She has a life altering emotional experience at an intensive workshop, but upon reflection realizes how scary it really was. For more, visit dearyoungrocker.com and follow @dearyoungrocker on instagram. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://ww...
Mark as Played
September 9, 2020 39 mins
A teacher takes an interest in Chelsea and gives her some feedback that rocks her world. She also does some jamming: by herself, with a new potential band, and with her friend at the world headquarters of noodling - Guitar Center. Old Chelsea doles out some advice about making it through the ‘boring parts’ of life. For more visit dearyoungrocker.com and follow @dearyoungrocker on instagram. Learn more about your ad-choices at ht...
Mark as Played
September 16, 2020 40 mins
Chelsea meets a friend in German class and struggles to live up to her new self-imposed expectations as a writer. She lets music fall by the wayside but uses her creativity to instead plan an escape from a lingering toxic relationship. This week’s advice letter focuses on taking pressure off of yourself in order to reach your full potential as a creator. For more, visit dearyoungrocker.com and follow @dearyoungrocker on instagram. ...
Mark as Played
September 23, 2020 45 mins
Sometimes running away from your problems is actually the right thing to do. Chelsea spends a summer living on the beach on Martha’s Vineyard in a cottage with no TV, internet, or cell service. She gets an inside look at how the other half lives by becoming a maid for billionaires in their summer homes and parties with their kids at night. Part healing journey and part distraction, it’s both a summer to remember and a way to forget...
Mark as Played

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