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. Timeless themes like religion, loss, love, death, labor, and community permeate his music. A dynamic, engaging performer and accomplished guitar player, Scott has been touring the east coast for two years in support of his debut album, Suggestions for the Tailor.

Born in North Carolina and raised in Virginia on a summer camp, Scott began playing guitar and writing songs at the tender age of 10. He was home-schooled for most of his childhood, a fact that helps explain his appreciation and preference for the road less traveled. At 18, Scott left home to play the open-mic circuit in Boston and study Spanish in Guatemala. He then returned to North Carolina for college, where he studied religion and sociology.

In 2005, after several years working as a community organizer in Greensboro, Scott entered Winston-Salem, North Carolina’s Memorial Studios to record Suggestions for the Tailor. The result is a simple, sparsely produced album of heartfelt immediacy and poise.

The eleven tracks on Suggestions introduce us to a mature songwriter with a sharp eye for detail and an abiding love for his subject matter. Here are songs about a migrant farmworker-poet who picks tobacco by day and writes home to his lover at night (The Migrant Poet); a man who keeps his most potent possession locked away in hopes that it will earn interest and one day afford him the thing he wants most (The Big Parade); a town that tries and tries to forget its past, but in doing so only remembers it more (The Great I Am); and a love affair that plays out amidst the grease and grime of a full-service gas station (Gasoline Love). As a whole, “Suggestions for the Tailor” is a testament to the enduring power of a lone voice and guitar and the tenuous exhilaration that comes with the commitment to pursue a life-long dream.

Now based in Philadelphia, Scott is hard at work on his second studio album. New songs such as “Hard Luck Days,” “Aida, My Love,” and “Thirsting’s Cure,” reflect his growth as a songwriter and musician, and a marked expansion of his artistic vision. Entitled Theater for the Weary, the album promises to be an adventurous next step in Scott’s musical journey. Better turn off the TV, turn an ear toward your stereo and pay attention.