Listen. Scott Pryor is spinning tunes. You may need to turn off the TV and hang up the phone. Amidst the cacophony of billboards and satellites, text messages and hit television shows, Scott’s songs are invitations to attentiveness. Tipping his hat to folks like Woody Guthrie, Bruce Springsteen, Leonard Cohen, Will Oldham and M. Ward, Scott writes songs built upon his passion for narrative and rich lyrical imagery. His new album, Theater for the Weary, is built on timeless themes of loss, love, death, labor, community, and the mysteries of the sacred.
“[Pryor] is perhaps the finest acoustic songwriter in Philadelphia right now. On 'Theater for the Weary,' Pryor’s sophomore disc, he masters folk tropes that many artists spend careers cultivating.Like an East Coast Josh Ritter, Pryor pulls off delivering acoustic melancholia with a smile.” --Jeffrey Barg, Philly Weekly
Produced by Devin Greenwood (Amos Lee, Birdie Busch), recorded by Bill Moriarty (Dr. Dog, Man Man), and featuring musicians that Pryor hand-picked from his favorite local bands (including Hoots and Hellmouth, Birdie Busch, and Buried Beds), Theater for the Weary reflects Pryor’s growth as a songwriter and collaborator, and his expanding artistic vision. From the rolling and lilting title track, to the crisp and pure heartpouring of “Aida” and “The Faintest Light”, Pryor is a wordsmith in the finest sense. Start with “Thirsting’s Cure,” and come away parched for more of Pryor’s fine craft.
Pryor hails from the woods of North Carolina and Virginia, but now calls Philadelphia home. Drawing on heritage that spans the urban and the rural, Pryor’s songs revel in the grit, bone and redemptive seeds to be found in each. From swimming holes to skyscrapers, from plows to asphalt playgrounds, Pryor stitches together the strange and mundane bits of a weathered and heroic Americana. Filled with wonder and longing, Theater for the Weary is ultimately defined by the triumph of earnest joy in spite of the facts — supported by the delight-filled clatter and swoon of Pryor's backing band, The Common Sinners.
