Chelsea Pribble is a professional dancer and musician in Austin, Texas. Projected to release her debut album in late 2024, the multi-talented songwriter hasn’t been on a straightforward path to artistic autonomy.

Growing up in a nomadic family, Chelsea hails from Texas but has had home bases in Switzerland, the Mid-West and East Coast. Though hints of her southern roots are laced in her vocals, her blended songwriting reflects her travels—from growing up on old country and blues in the South to exposure to piano-heavy classical music through lifelong ballet training to living in the Mid-West during the indie era and height of Sufjan Stevens and Over the Rhine’s careers.

As a kid, she took dinnertime as an opportunity to act out, dance, and sing about her day while her parents all at once encouraged her creativity and pleaded for her to sit still so she could eat. She dipped her toes in piano and vocal lessons, tap and jazz dance, ballet, visual art and creative writing until, while attending an arts high school, she was asked to lean into one focus. She chose dance and continued on to major in dance with a specialty in ballet at the University of Texas.

College also became a time where she picked up her first guitar and turned to songwriting as an outlet in between every class and when she should have been sleeping for another intense 12-hour day of training. She competed in the Kerrville Folk Festival Songwriting competitions at the Cactus Cafe and earned runner up each time. She also put on her first full production in the Cohen New Works Festival integrating her original songs with a five piece band integrated and ballet contemporary choreography danced by her peers. She was then selected to perform excerpts of the show for the UT Director’s Council.

Post-College she formed a five-piece R&B band filled with talented UT music students called Little Red and the Riffs. That’s when her songs took flight. Their 2017 NPR Tiny Desk submission “Howl” was selected by NPR as one of the top five desks in the wild. They performed around Austin at venues including Sahara Lounge and Stay Gold.

Shortly after 2017, she met an independent label owner on a return flight from visiting family in North Carolina. He led her into her first recording experience with well-respected, Austin-based audio engineer + producer Lars Goransson. In February of 2020, they released her debut EP Second Movement just before the pandemic hit which stifled the momentum of the release and consequent video projects. Though the songs have been removed from streaming platforms and the rights fully transferred to her, Chelsea has plans to fulfill her creative vision of integrating dance media with the release of her first full length album. Stay tuned for a fresh cinematic start!