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from Worcester Magazine August 13 - 19, 2020

Last Call

Holden native Chelsea Ursin finds her voice with ‘Dear Young Rocker’

LINDA LABAN

Chelsea Ursin knows better than most that teenagers tough it out and put on a brave face. It wasn’t until the 31-year-old Holden native was in college that she began recognizing and confronting her teenage angst, and that’s now working out into a broadcasting career.

Ursin’s “Dear Young Rocker” podcast, which began airing via iHeartMedia in January, has been signed for a second season. On top of that, there’s major studio interest in developing a “Dear Young Rocker” TV show, too. That’s under wraps until the ink is dry, however.

“Dear Young Rocker” finds Ursin, who graduated from Wachusett Regional High School in 2007, giving her teenage self sage advice gained from the keen hindsight that comes from reflection.

Reflection, Ursin says, is something everyone can benefit from.

“People who were going through anxiety and anger back when they were younger should take time to reflect,” says Ursin from her home in west Cambridge. “Because maybe they never totally processed it properly, and just found ways to cope with that instead.”

Ursin found her way out of coping and getting by through music, hence the title of her podcast. She began playing bass at age 12 and joined bands in her teenage years. It was an outlet she loved, but she was always just the bass player with no voice. Five years ago she formed her own band, Banana, a punky, heavy power trio, and began writing and singing songs.

That was a turning point in finding her voice and expressing herself. But, it was while she was at Emerson College studying creative writing that she began reflecting. She wrote a memoir titled “Bass Player” for her MFA, which talked about her experiences.

“I started as a fiction major. I didn’t want to write about myself, but all of my stories and fiction ideas had main characters that had a lot in common with me,” she said, laughing.

She honed her MFA thesis into the “Dear Young Rocker” podcast and it caught the ear of Boston musician and “Disgraceland” podcast host Jake Brennan’s Double Elvis Productions, which broadcasts through iHeartMedia.

Ursin’s plan, however, is not to be a podcast personality, or even star in a TV show. She prefers to remain under the radar.

“I like being a writer. I have to deal with some part of being a personality because that’s part of being a podcaster,” she says. “My vision in telling my story is to help other people. I’d like to do an advice column type show at some point.”

Perhaps that isn’t surprising: Ursin’s parents, Diane and David Ursin, both work at UMass Memorial Medical Center. “Mom is a nursing supervisor and dad is an ICU nurse,” she says.

COVID-19 has brought Ursin more anxiety than just having to lock down.

“My dad works directly with COVID patients. The fear of losing both my parents meant I lost the ability to do very much other than just hang in there,” she says.

“The last ‘Dear Young Rocker’ episode aired in mid-March, it came out the day before Massachusetts closed. I had very little to do after that. It feels so long ago; it feels so lost,” she muses.

As usual, relief came in a familiar place: rehearsing with Banana, which includes guitarist Ryan Higgins and drummer Justin Cole. Jamming out even provides relief from her public face as “Dear Young Rocker.”

“It’s been stressful and positive,” she admits. “When I first started writing it, it was really cathartic. But now that is has become my career and it’s so involved, it’s a full-time job. Then I get those messages from people who say they have connected with their own teenage selves and it becomes cathartic again.”

Chelsea Ursin is the creator of the “Dear Young Rocker” podcast.

Clark grad finding success in Nashville, despite pandamic limitations

RICHARD DUCKETT

When we last talked with pop/folk artist and environmentalist Olivia Frances in March 2019, a number of things were about to happen if the plans worked out.

As a senior at Clark University with exams coming up, Frances was hoping to graduate from Clark University where she was majoring in global environmental studies with a minor in music. After that, she had organized a 28-stop New England summer tour with her band. Meanwhile, Frances had an Indiegogo campaign going on to raise $10,000 to help with the production and release of her third album, “Orchid.” Then she was going to move to Nashville in July 2019 to pursue her music career full time.

“Those things all happened,” Frances said during a recent telephone interview from Nashville. “I did a tour last summer, moved to Nashville, very happy to be in the Music City.”

Something else then happened, of course, that nobody had planned for.

“With the pandemic there’s not nearly as much live music or if there is there isn’t many people going to them,” Frances said. “I was going to tour (this summer). It’s really sad, all the musicians who were trying to make living.”

But there has been more good news as well. Frances is nominated for Artist of the Year and also for Album of the Year for “Orchid” at the 6th Annual Josie Music Awards (JMAs), the largest independent artist award show globally, to be held Sept. 5 at the Dolly Parton Celebrity Theater in Dollywood. The event will be filmed for television.

“I was so, so excited getting nominated for album of the year and artist of the year. It’s really quite and honor. It feels very validating,” Frances said. “I have so many songs I want to share with the world.”

There will be a buzz of a different kind on Aug. 15 when Frances releases a visualizer of her song “The Bee & The Rose” from “Orchid” on National Honey Bee Day. It is a day when beekeepers, beekeeping clubs and honey bee enthusiasts from across the U.S will celebrate honey bees and their contribution to our lives in an effort to protect this critical and increasingly endangered species.

As an environmentalist and musician, Frances uses “The Bee & The Rose” as a catalyst to discuss the current bee crisis on stage. The song is really an upbeat love song with a great refrain that keeps coming back to capture the listener. “The Bee & The Rose” was nominated for Best Story Song at the 18th Annual Independent Music Awards. Inspired by Fleetwood Mac’s album cover for “Tango in the Night,” the visualizer features a fairy tale garden landscape with a honey bee flying onto a rose.

Originally from Cincinnati, Frances wrote her first song when she was 12 and found a community there that was supportive of her singing and songwriting. “I fell in love with the craft,” she recalled in an earlier interview.

After graduating from high school, she spent her gap year in Nashville, working at a Barnes & Noble store and immersing herself in the music scene and performing at open mics.

While at Clark University, Frances also became a part of the music scene here. She appeared regularly at open mics and played venues such as Beatnik’s on Park Avenue (solo or with her band) on a regular basis. She was also part of the Newton Square Summer Concert Series, and participated in the Women of Worcester Concert. She won 1st place in the Singer-Songwriter Category in the 2018 New England Songwriting Competition.

“Orchid” came out of the Riverfront Recording Studios in Nashville and was produced by the distinguished Pat Lassiter.

Besides the title song and “The Bee & The Rose,” other songs include “Lettin’ Summer Shine,” “It Just Takes One” and “Moon to My Sun.” In 2018 Frances was VOX Pop Winner in the Love Song category for “Moon to My Sun” (which had been released as a single) at the Independent Music Awards.

“Orchid” is an embodiment of what Frances has called “sunshinestory-pop” to describe her music.

Often nature-inspired lyrics combine with well phrased vocals and skillful guitar playing to give the listener a refreshing splash of positivity but avoiding sappiness. Heartache can exist in this world, but so too does joy and it’s likely it will win the day. Nine out of the album’s 11 tunes were written with the help of friend, colleague and collaborator Michael Astrachan of Nashville. All told, Frances has written or co-written over 300 songs, including with other writers from Nashville as well as Boston and Clark University.

On moving to Nashville full time, Frances said she found that the gap year there had helped. “From that year I had friends down here and I

was familiar with the venues and landscape. I was able to dive right back in the music scene.”

Among her activities pre-COVID-19, she was doing “songwriter rounds” where three or four song- writers on stage take turns to sing, and performing at venues such as the Commodore Grille and Belcourt Taps, the latter “a very small, inti- mate space and warm environment.”

Day jobs have included working at City Winery, but she was laid off from there when the pandemic hit. Currently she’s doing marketing for GoodSeeker, a start-up where em- ployees of different companies blog about their experiences.

She can work from home, and that’s where she has also been working on a lot of songs on Skype. “The new technology makes it easier to write with people all over the world,” she said.

Frances has been writing and recording during the pandemic, but said, “I’ve battled back and forth with whether releasing new music is what I should be doing right now.”

While there’s always a push from music executives for “new content, new content,” Frances wants to push the content of “Orchid.”

“I feel it is very important to con- tinue to push these songs and see what happens from that,” she said.

Ironically, two good things have happened at the same time concern- ing Sept. 5. On the same day that Frances and “Orchid” are up for awards in Dollywood, she has a gig outdoors (actually a four-day engage- ment) in Sanduskly, Ohio, that was too good to pass up. “I will be at the Josie Awards in spirit,” she said.

Asked if the pandemic has affected her songwriting, Frances said, “I think the answer is yes. I’ve been writing more positive things. It’s funny to say that as most people think of my songs as positive music, but that mindset is showing through my songs to stay hopeful and positive.”

And so she has positive thoughts about coming back here for a visit. “I would love to come to Worcester,” she said. “I was supposed to come in July. The last time was this past November. I’m looking forward to being back among friends and walking around the Clark campus. Worcester always has a special place in my heart so I always want to go back and visit.”

For more information about Olivia Frances, visit www.oliviafrances- music.com.