You should see my son right now / His eyes are your color blue. These words burned in Scott Stevens head one night as everything was closing in at once in his life. His wife was pregnant, they were trying to move, a publishing deal was coming to an end, and his dog died. Looking at a photograph of his toddler son and missing his maternal grandfather, Henry T. Ellenberg, who passed away a few years earlier, Stevens recognized how much his boy’s eyes mirrored those of his beloved grandfather. He poured himself a glass of whiskey, wrote the words that kept playing on repeat in his head, then started humming “Missin’ You.”
Videos by American Songwriter
Honoring his late grandfather, a World War II medic and one of the most profound influences in his life, “Missin’ You” burns through the heart, restoring all the memories of that person who left an indelible mark. It’s the remembrance of those we’ve lost. It’s a celebration of life.
Co-written with Dave Pittenger and Riley Thomas, “Missin’ You” is one of the most honest songs Stevens says he’s written since moving to Nashville several years ago.
“It’s one song that I’ll always come back to,” says Stevens. “I can pinpoint a time in my career where I’m like, ‘Man, that’s where I decided to start. That’s where I started to write something that I really want.’ I really want to make art that’s worthy of being made. I just wanted it to be my voice, and I hear it all in this song… my career and my journey.”
Stevens believes his grandfather is the reason he became a songwriter. “He always had these war stories,” says Stevens. “Man, I would kill for one of his stories now. That’s probably why I became a songwriter if I really look deeper into it. I just wanted to tell stories like he did.”
Ready to release more singles following up this year’s “New Boots (Pts. 1 & 2),” “Country Soul Survivor” and 2019’s “Outer Space,” Stevens says a debut album should be ready by spring of 2021.
As sentimental as “Missin’ You” is, Stevens says it’s really a commemoration of life, but more specifically love, something his grandfather always fell back on in the face of adversity. “He shaped so much of who I was,” says Stevens. “It’s pretty incredible, and it feels good to finally commemorate him.”
Celebrating a life well lived, Stevens says that what he loved about his grandfather is seen though him and now being passed on to his sons. “I handle everything like Pappy handled it,” says Stevens. “I got that from him, my inability to take life completely seriously. It’s always with a joke and a smoke, and your old guitar. They might not know it yet, but he’ll be one of the biggest influences in their lives too.”
In true Pappy fashion, Stevens’ youngest son even plays the guitar and sings along to the track in the video, filmed at his parents’ farm in East Tennessee.
“People can interpret it however they like, or however it best serves them,” says Stevens of the song. “That’s what art is. That’s why people connect with songs in their own way. The whole line in the song I still hear you saying there ain’t no greater thing than love, that’s the whole reason there is to still celebrate. Even through the pain and the heartache, the beauty of it all is that it’s all worth it.”
