Introducing Dear Young Rocker

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). …

E1: STEAM

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 …

E2: BASS PLAYER

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 …

E3: CLAW MARKS AND BLOOD

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 …

E4: BATTLE OF THE BANDS

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 …

E5: KISS

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 …

E6: BREAKING UP

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. …

E7: ACHE

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 …

E8: GRADUATION

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 …

E9: STICK WITH IT

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 …

E10: FRESHMAN

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 …

EP11: MUSIC MAJOR

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 …

E12: AURAL SKILLS

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 …

Dear Young Rocker Season 2 Trailer

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 …

E13: STUDIO TIME

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 …

E14: NO MORE JAZZ

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 …

E15: TRUE SELF

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 …

E16: GUITAR CENTER

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 …

E17: WRITER

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 …

E18: THE ISLAND

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 …

E19: DESTINY

Chelsea experiences what feels like destiny when she runs into a crush in the most romantic way possible. An intense relationship develops between the pair, who happen to have a large age …

E20: CRAIGSLIST

In this installment, Chelsea deals with a lot of change at once. The confusion and pain of her first major heartbreak is followed by an ambivalent …

E21: ROCK CAMP PART 1

Chelsea has a transformative experience as a mentor and music teacher at a week of Girls Rock Camp. Her band of high schoolers causes her to feel …

E22: ROCK CAMP PART 2

The story of the young band at rock camp continues. Chelsea helps them finish their new song and get ready to perform. In the process she realizes she might actually be what’s blocking …

E23: SWEDEN

This episode of Dear Young Rocker finds our heroine in Scandinavia for the summer to volunteer at another rock camp. Being so far from home is …

E24: PURPOSE

In the season two finale of Dear Young Rocker, Chelsea feels an intense desire to make noise and tell stories. For the first time she fronts her own band. By writing her own songs and …

Dear Young Rocker Season 3 Trailer

Dear Young Rocker Season 3 launches April 7th, 2021. Tune in for a music-themed audio memoir podcast where musicians tell the stories of their teenage struggles and triumphs and how they …

E25: PRELUDE

Chelsea tells us the origin story of Dear Young Rocker and makes the case for creating the work you want to, rather than waiting for someone else to hand you the keys to the life you dream …

E26: NERD CAMP - FEAT. AMY HOFFMAN OF FUTURE TEENS

Amy Hoffman of the band Future Teens has a transformative high school summer at an academic camp in Missouri. When a teacher encourages the students …

E27: CRYING IN H MART FEAT. MICHELLE ZAUNER OF JAPANESE BREAKFAST

Michelle Zauner joins Chelsea to read a selection from and discuss her new book Crying in H Mart (Knopf). Chelsea asks Michelle about her writing process, her teenage relationship with her …

E28: DOC MARTENS FEAT. MIA BERRIN OF POM POM SQUAD

Mia Berrin, frontwoman of Pom Pom Squad, tells the story of a difficult freshman year of high school in Florida. She endured racially-motivated …

E29: THE BLAZER FEAT LIRA MONDAL OF SWEEPING PROMISES

Lira Mondal of the band Sweeping Promises shares her story of growing up in Arkansas as a nerdy choir kid longing to fit into an alternative rock …

E30: FOLK PUNK FEAT. KATIE LAU OF PAINTED ZEROS

Katie Lau takes the mic on this episode and tells her story of adolescent self-discovery as a kid that withdrew after some harsh bullying but came …

E31: ANXIOUS BUT OKAY FEAT ELISE OKUSAMI

Elise Okusami of the band Oceanator started playing guitar and listening to Green Day pretty young at nine years old, and her first band wasn't long …

E32: STOMPHIA FEAT WENDY EISENBERG

Wendy Eisenberg went through a best friend transition in middle school that led to playing in their first band and some insight about what it means …

E33: GAY ROCKER FEAT LG OF THELMA AND THE SLEAZE

LG of the band Thelma and the Sleaze brings us all the way back to her early adolescence in Kankakee Illinois. Surviving a childhood marked by head …

E34: SKANKING FEAT ANJIMILE

While Anjimile Chithambo was growing up in Richardson Texas, he found himself drawn more and more to music. After trying different genres on for …

E35: WANDERING GHOST FEAT CLAIRE GOHST

Claire Gohst releases her music under the name Paper Citizen. She grew up in a restrictive and abusive conservative Christian household in Singapore. …

E36: SPIDER LADY FEAT SHANNON SHAW OF SHANNON AND THE CLAMS

Shannon Shaw of Shannon and the Clams didn't start playing bass and writing songs until she was 25. It's hard to believe listening to her songs today, but she was raised in a Jack Mormon …

Introducing: Dear Young Rocker Season 4 featuring Nadia Marie

Dear Young Rocker is a scripted non-fiction storytelling and audio memoir podcast featuring stories from women and trans musicians. In Season 4, launching September 14, 2022, series creator …

Introducing Nadia Marie: Dear Young Rocker’s Season 4 Story

Dear Young Rockers: This season is going to be different. To introduce a new season-length story, DYR creator Chelsea Ursin interviews Atlanta-based musician and artist Nadia Marie, who …

E37: Live Forever

“I was born and born again at the age of 23.” In the Season 4 premiere of Dear Young Rocker, Atlanta’s Nadia Marie shares her life story and the disorientation one feels when starting …

E38: Two-Headed Boy

Just days after a bike accident leaves her with a concussion, Nadia experiences memory loss as she attempts to play a solo gig with her beloved harp. …

E39: Everyday Is Like Sunday

Dear Young Rocker: Starting over is not always what you think it will be. In this episode, Nadia uses music to help her keep track of what’s around her, recording music on her iPad to help …

E40: Self Esteem

Dear Young Rocker: Is anyone ever really an adult? Nadia reflects on the sounds and feelings of childhood freedom. She brings us back to growing up …

E41: Nothing Gold Can Stay

Dear Young Rocker: The restlessness you feel in amnesia is similar to the restlessness you felt in youth—stuck, begging time to pass as quickly as possible. There will be moments that will …

E42: Konstantine

Dear Young Rocker: No matter how many places you move to, your closest friends are always in the exact same place—right on your computer screen. In this episode, we flashback to LiveJournal …

E43: Dear Catastrophe Waitress

Dear Young Rocker: Sometimes, when you least expect it, you meet someone who changes everything, who shifts your life's path forever. Finding herself …

E44: It's A Hit

Dear Young Rocker: It's okay to feel restless. You'll bounce around a lot and feel that no one knows you, except your new friends on the internet and the people who watch you sing — the …

E45: Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl

Dear Young Rocker: Make a note — keep a diary that you share with your friends, the ones you love and random people you meet.

Nadia spends time looking back on the moments that shaped her …

E46: Grievous Angel

Dear Young Rocker: there will be things that you will spend the rest of your life trying to piece together and figure out. Certain things you just never get over.

And you don’t have to!

E47: Lemonworld

Dear Young Rocker: the most challenging times can also be the most beautiful times. Someday you’ll look back and realize it all passed so quickly, …

E48: Weekday Weekend

Dear Young Rocker: you can spend your whole life wondering, obsessing over the “what if’s” -- but no matter the circumstances, it’s still your life.

Presenting Badlands - Anna Nicole Smith: Methadone, a Murder Plot, and a Fate Like Marilyn’s

Anna Nicole Smith transcended the laws of celebrity. She was a blond sexpot who was famous for being famous, and that was reason enough for pop …

Badlands Season 8: Hollywoodland (Trailer)

Homemade bombs, bricks of weed, deranged stalkers, an old family curse, an attempted presidential assassination, and one of the most violent murder …

How you can listen to this podcast

You can listen to episodes right here on the website, or if you prefer, in a podcast app. Listening in an app makes it easier to keep track of what you’ve already heard, listen without using your data plan and many other conveniences.

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Start listening to Introducing Dear Young Rocker
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