Speaker 1: So lovesome with love Today's edition of Love Someone with
Speaker 1: Delilah is going to be very, very very easy for
Speaker 1: you to do. It is going to be so easy
Speaker 1: for you to love the someone who is my guest
Speaker 1: today because he is so lovable, one of America's endearing
Speaker 1: heart throbs. He is a beautiful singer, such a talented
Speaker 1: singer and musician. He's a gifted actor. And he's not
Speaker 1: so hard on the eyes either. Let's be honest, such
Speaker 1: a handsome man. Mr Harry Connick Jr. Is joining us
Speaker 1: to talk about a whole lot of stuff that he
Speaker 1: has got going on. Uh music and giving back. Will
Speaker 1: be back to hear all about what Harrick Connick Jr.
Speaker 1: Is doing, how he is being an inspiration to thousands
Speaker 1: millions of people. Right after this message from my amazing sponsor,
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Speaker 1: get more done? And speaking of doers, my guest today
Speaker 1: does a lot for others. A big, huge welcome to
Speaker 1: my friend, the incredibly talented raconic Jr. As I just mentioned.
Speaker 1: His talent is massive, his heart is even bigger. You're
Speaker 1: so nice. Thank you. So tell me about this trip
Speaker 1: that you took with your daughter. My sister was telling
Speaker 1: me that your daughter is a filmmaker. Yeah, so she
Speaker 1: This is Georgia. She's the oldest of our three girls.
Speaker 1: She's twenty four, and she studied filmmaking and has been, um,
Speaker 1: really kind of making a name for herself in the
Speaker 1: in the business. And we've worked together before, and we
Speaker 1: were sitting at home during quarantine when it kind of
Speaker 1: first started. I said, Georgia, let's um, let's take a
Speaker 1: road trip and go thank some essential everyday heroes for
Speaker 1: all the stuff they're doing to help us out. People
Speaker 1: like sanitation workers, um, people who were on the Boys
Speaker 1: and Girls clubs, truck drivers, grocery store clerks, you know,
Speaker 1: and just just go say thanks and um, and you
Speaker 1: can film it and we can put something together. And
Speaker 1: she said, that sounds that's was great. So um, we
Speaker 1: rented an RV and uh, CBS followed us around and
Speaker 1: filmed it, filmed her filming me, and we put a
Speaker 1: special together UM called United We Sing a Grammy tribute
Speaker 1: to the Unsung Heroes, and it came out on CBS
Speaker 1: about three weeks ago and now it's streaming on CBS
Speaker 1: All Access. And it was just an incredible opportunity for
Speaker 1: us to thank and pay tribute to these amazing folks
Speaker 1: who keep our lives going every day. So how many
Speaker 1: of the comics went in the motor home? Was it
Speaker 1: just you and Georgia? Was it the whole family? Well,
Speaker 1: if it were up to me, I would have brought everybody,
Speaker 1: but Jill wasn't able to go. Neither were Kate or Sar,
Speaker 1: which was probably best because we were working so much,
Speaker 1: like we ended up driving thirty five miles and Georgia
Speaker 1: when not filming, was editing, so we weren't the most
Speaker 1: social because we were really trying to get a lot
Speaker 1: of footage. UM, so it probably worked out best. But
Speaker 1: it wasn't really like a like a vacation where everybody
Speaker 1: could have come along, so you didn't get to stop
Speaker 1: at all the roadside attractions you didn't well they were
Speaker 1: probably closed anyway, with COVID, everything was closed. But when
Speaker 1: we stopped, like we would go and we weren't staying
Speaker 1: in hotels because we were being really cautious about social distancing.
Speaker 1: So we would pull into these campground sites and you know,
Speaker 1: we stayed in you know, Tennessee and Virginia and Alabama,
Speaker 1: and it was it was just awesome. You know, we
Speaker 1: got some R and R at night and then we
Speaker 1: pick up the next day and go, you know, and
Speaker 1: stopping you know, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Casisco, Mississippi, or Memphis or wherever.
Speaker 1: And so it was intense, but it was really really cool. Okay,
Speaker 1: how many miles again did you put on the r
Speaker 1: V and I'm taking that you were driving while Georgia
Speaker 1: was editing. Yeah, we drove thirty five miles in total. Wow,
Speaker 1: what inspired you to do that? Like, you know, sitting
Speaker 1: around thinking about everybody getting sick and what was going
Speaker 1: on because back when a first hit we were hearing
Speaker 1: we were hearing the stories out of Wuhan. What made
Speaker 1: you think, you know, what, we can we can do
Speaker 1: some good, we can we can be a blessing, we
Speaker 1: can be an inspiration, Like, how did that thought come up?
Speaker 1: I was getting tired of watching the news as as
Speaker 1: I am now actually with with just so much bad
Speaker 1: news and contradictory information. In fact, the song that I
Speaker 1: wrote that I'm promoting Stars Still Shine the very first
Speaker 1: line as all this news is getting old, and it
Speaker 1: it really was. And I'm thinking, you know, we're seeing
Speaker 1: a lot of who we should see on the news,
Speaker 1: healthcare workers, firemen and women, e ms, you know, police officers, um.
Speaker 1: But we're not seeing a lot of the people who
Speaker 1: do a lot of the lot of the you know
Speaker 1: work that is going on. Um. Who who really deserves
Speaker 1: some sort of recognition. And so that was that was
Speaker 1: the idea to just to go say thanks to him
Speaker 1: and just to to you know, look at them, and
Speaker 1: I mean I couldn't shake their hand or anything, but
Speaker 1: just in the eyes and say we we see you,
Speaker 1: and we love you and we appreciate you. And then
Speaker 1: I had the idea of having celebrities zoom in and
Speaker 1: I'd be holding an iPad and the street car operator
Speaker 1: in New Orleans, you know, would see Sandy Bullocks saying
Speaker 1: thank you or um, the the trucker, husband, wife, couple, um,
Speaker 1: who are you know are putting themselves at risk every
Speaker 1: day to keep our supply chain going. Tim McGraw was
Speaker 1: on the iPad and saying them a song. So it
Speaker 1: was really, you know, it was just about let's not
Speaker 1: do a news piece. That's you know, real heavy. Let's
Speaker 1: let's just bring these folks some entertainment and some joy
Speaker 1: and nothing nothing, nothing, nothing lives your heart or your
Speaker 1: spirit as hearing thank you. Yeah, I think I think
Speaker 1: you're right, you know. I mean, when I play a
Speaker 1: show or I do something and somebody comes up to
Speaker 1: me on the street and says, you know, thank you
Speaker 1: for what you do, that that that is you know
Speaker 1: what it's like. I mean, you're giving people arrestite from
Speaker 1: from all of this craziness. I mean, that's what you
Speaker 1: do for a living. And what an honor it is
Speaker 1: to be able to do what you love and actually
Speaker 1: have it, you know, help someone. So man, it's it's
Speaker 1: a no brainer for for me to go out and
Speaker 1: just you know, look these people in the eye and
Speaker 1: tell them thank you so much, and every one of
Speaker 1: them except maybe one, so like, why do you why
Speaker 1: do you want to talk to us? I'm like, because
Speaker 1: you are the cleaning crew of the hospital at the
Speaker 1: University of Alabama and you have husbands and wives and
Speaker 1: children and you can't sit home in quarantine. You are
Speaker 1: giving me chills. You know that the chicken skin My
Speaker 1: kids call it when you get excited, goose bumps. But
Speaker 1: it's true, and it's true now. It's true now, and
Speaker 1: people are forgetting that. Okay, that was four months ago.
Speaker 1: It's true now. Yeah. Well it's it's worse now. It's
Speaker 1: far worse now. Yeah. And so while all of this,
Speaker 1: you know, stuff is going on like that, that guy
Speaker 1: who collects the trash every day at four o'clock in
Speaker 1: the morning said, why you aren't talk to me? I said,
Speaker 1: because I'm asleep. When you come you pick up my trash,
Speaker 1: you're exposing yourself to this virus far more than I am.
Speaker 1: You can't, you know, take four months off work, you know,
Speaker 1: and he has to come home and you know, take
Speaker 1: extra precaution with his clothes and stuff. I said, do
Speaker 1: you think what you're doing is He goes, yeah, I
Speaker 1: actually do, and it was you know, I mean, I
Speaker 1: love these people, man, This is there's a lot of
Speaker 1: goodness out there. We just need to focus on that.
Speaker 1: There's so much goodness out there. I'm so sick of
Speaker 1: the bad news. I'm so sick of the divisiveness. I'm
Speaker 1: so sick of it, of the bitterness and the negativity
Speaker 1: when there's so much goodness out there. Thank you. It
Speaker 1: was my honor, really was, Harry. It is my absolute
Speaker 1: honor to be speaking with you. We are going to
Speaker 1: take a brief pause right now to share a message
Speaker 1: from some folks who make this podcast possible. I am
Speaker 1: so excited to have my friend Harry Connick Jr. Joining
Speaker 1: us today. Harry, tell me more about your beautiful daughter, Georgia,
Speaker 1: you know, to work with her. You know, this was not,
Speaker 1: you know, like a pleasure trip. I mean she was
Speaker 1: really you know, burn the midnight all trying to get
Speaker 1: these edits, you know, uploaded to CVS. She was working really,
Speaker 1: really hard, and then she would go out and film
Speaker 1: these people, and she was listening to you know, Asia,
Speaker 1: the twenty something year old school teacher who has a
Speaker 1: bunch of elementary school kids who don't have computers to
Speaker 1: do online learning, and they don't have access to the
Speaker 1: internet because they can't afford it to do online learning.
Speaker 1: So what does she do? She goes to their house
Speaker 1: every day and drives by with candy and throws it
Speaker 1: out the window and checks on them. I mean, this,
Speaker 1: this is what I'm talking about. And you know that
Speaker 1: these are the There's a line I keep coming back
Speaker 1: to in the song and says, thank God for you,
Speaker 1: thank God for you. These aren't lyrics that you know,
Speaker 1: you write down because you need lyrics. These are lyrics
Speaker 1: that I said, how can I say thank you? And
Speaker 1: it's you know what it boiled down to, thank God
Speaker 1: for you. Um, you know we could not do this
Speaker 1: without you, and you need to hear it. And and
Speaker 1: that's what the song is all about. I'm sorry, you're
Speaker 1: making me cry. Oh well they listen, they make they
Speaker 1: make me cry and and and like like you know,
Speaker 1: it's in this time for me that that's what gets
Speaker 1: me through, um with with all of the vitriol and
Speaker 1: all the divisiveness and bitterness. Um, you know, I I
Speaker 1: look at you know, the good the good ones, and
Speaker 1: there's there's a lot of there's a lot of people
Speaker 1: out there that are that are making as possible and
Speaker 1: you know, I keep my eye on that, and I
Speaker 1: just know we'll be okay, Mr Rogers. Look for the helpers.
Speaker 1: Look for the helpers. There's so many helpers. Yeah. And
Speaker 1: and it's funny how the noise dissipates and disappears when
Speaker 1: when my focus is on that. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: things that would you know, normally, you know, make my
Speaker 1: heart rate go up or worry me or stress me out.
Speaker 1: They it's funny how they just dissolve when a slight
Speaker 1: change in perspective or gratitude or humility is really all
Speaker 1: all that it takes. And um, I mean it's it's
Speaker 1: it's something that I have to remind myself of. Um,
Speaker 1: but when I do, it's just it's it's funny how
Speaker 1: much brier the world looks. So your girls, your wife
Speaker 1: and your girls. Are you guys are all at home
Speaker 1: now that that project is done? Are you still together?
Speaker 1: We're all home. Um, everybody's just kind of kind of
Speaker 1: on stand by, you know. Uh, Georgia, you know, can't
Speaker 1: really do a whole lot in terms of going out
Speaker 1: and filming. My daughter Kate has a clothing line. She's
Speaker 1: doing her best to kind of run the business from home.
Speaker 1: And Charlotte is about to be a senior in high
Speaker 1: school and we're still waiting to find out, you know,
Speaker 1: whether the public school will you know, go on a schedule,
Speaker 1: whether they'll do like a flex thing, you know, all
Speaker 1: about that with the two or three days a week,
Speaker 1: you know. So we're just kind of waiting, and and Jill,
Speaker 1: who happens to be a unbelievable chef, is spoiling us
Speaker 1: with a lot of home cooked meals. So it's been
Speaker 1: that part of it has been great. I gotta say,
Speaker 1: as as much stress and heartache and frustrations and school
Speaker 1: and all that stuff, dinner time has been a huge
Speaker 1: blessing to be together with my family. Yeah. I remember
Speaker 1: I was talking to somebody the other day and they're like,
Speaker 1: oh God, you know, I can't wait till all this
Speaker 1: is over our kids can go back to school. And
Speaker 1: I'm thinking, yeah, I mean that that we need that
Speaker 1: to happen. But man, I'm loving every second of having
Speaker 1: my girls here. I am loving it of the time,
Speaker 1: the intimacy, the conversations. Um, we started doing this thing
Speaker 1: at dinner time, and if if you've not done it,
Speaker 1: I would suggest you do it because it'll blow your
Speaker 1: mind with what your girls come up with. But every night,
Speaker 1: one of us comes up with a question, and uh
Speaker 1: So we've been sheltering and play up until last Thursday
Speaker 1: with my outlaws, my ex husband's parents who were in
Speaker 1: their eighties, and me and my husband and five of
Speaker 1: our kids that are still at home. And the questions
Speaker 1: are just phenomenal that the kids have been coming up with.
Speaker 1: And that so questions like if you could go back
Speaker 1: in time and change one event in your life, what
Speaker 1: would it be? And why? Man, that's great, you know
Speaker 1: why that's great because it gives your kids a chance,
Speaker 1: all of all of you, a chance to come up
Speaker 1: with something substantive. Like we play a game called Awkward
Speaker 1: Dinner where we go on the table and say, okay,
Speaker 1: name three people that you would never want to have
Speaker 1: dinner with at the same time. And you'd pick like,
Speaker 1: you know, like your ex ex boyfriend, and like a
Speaker 1: third grade teacher who they don't know, and like some politicians.
Speaker 1: You just like just people you just would never never
Speaker 1: put together. But the thing of your game is that
Speaker 1: it's it's um something that they've had a chance to
Speaker 1: think about um, which would make it, you know, more meaningful.
Speaker 1: So I love that we're gonna do that. There have
Speaker 1: been so many blessings come out of the shutdown, and
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not negating the financial hardships and and
Speaker 1: all the people we've lost and and all that. But
Speaker 1: in the midst of that, there have been so many
Speaker 1: moments of pure joy with me and my kids, and
Speaker 1: that's what I try to focus on. Yeah, yeah, it's
Speaker 1: it's it's life is I tell my kids, like, a
Speaker 1: pretty good day is a blessing because in the course
Speaker 1: of a day, you know, you may have heartbreak and
Speaker 1: great joy, you know, so if you can get through
Speaker 1: the day and have it be pretty good, that's that's
Speaker 1: that's all right. And life is complicated, right, It's it's
Speaker 1: all of those things. It's hardship and tragedy and joy
Speaker 1: and everything. So there there is joy here, and I
Speaker 1: think you're smart to embrace it. That's what we try
Speaker 1: to do too. Well, tell me about the projects that
Speaker 1: that a your your video, your your program is helping,
Speaker 1: because I know there's some really cool charities. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: the show United We Sing. People can see that now
Speaker 1: on CBS All Access streaming if they want to see
Speaker 1: the whole show. But the finale of the show is
Speaker 1: I'm writing this down CBS All access. You can stream
Speaker 1: it okay, yep, and then um, the song Stars Still Shine,
Speaker 1: you can download that anywhere you would normally download songs
Speaker 1: and all of the proceeds to that. You can just
Speaker 1: listen to the Delilah show. You just do that. That
Speaker 1: would be the favorite way to do it, and then
Speaker 1: you can look up online. The Ellis Marsalis Center for Music,
Speaker 1: It's something I started with Branford Marsalis. It's in one
Speaker 1: of the most underserved neighborhoods in New Orleans, the ninth Ward.
Speaker 1: It's a community center that offers you know, after school
Speaker 1: help for kids and it teaches them how to code
Speaker 1: and has a recording studio and a community center. Um.
Speaker 1: And we just lost Ellis from COVID. He was our
Speaker 1: teacher and Bramford's father, So, um, we want to keep
Speaker 1: this center going. It's been going since not long after Katrina.
Speaker 1: It's expensive to operate and all the all the money
Speaker 1: that we used to do that comes from donation, So
Speaker 1: all of the proceeds from Stars Still Shine will go
Speaker 1: to benefit that. It takes a village. It takes a
Speaker 1: village to inspire a child, to keep a child protected
Speaker 1: and safe during these crazy times. And how cool that
Speaker 1: kids can can go there and be safe and be
Speaker 1: taught and express themselves musically. Yeah, and to feel like
Speaker 1: they have ownership and something. You know, that's so much
Speaker 1: of it. You know, when when when they go back
Speaker 1: to their homes in the Musicians Village, their their parents
Speaker 1: own those homes. That's part of the whole Habits after
Speaker 1: humanity process when we started Musicians Village, those kids own
Speaker 1: those homes and they they have keys to the kingdom.
Speaker 1: And I mean when you don't have to worry about that,
Speaker 1: I mean, how how available are you to learn? I mean,
Speaker 1: it's it's infinite because you you feel like you Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is mine, the best recording studio in New Orleans.
Speaker 1: I can go in here whenever I want because this
Speaker 1: this belongs to me. And I'm telling you just takes
Speaker 1: a teeny bit of opportunity that and you could you know,
Speaker 1: that's that's the future superstars of music coming out of
Speaker 1: New Orleans and they just need a little bit of
Speaker 1: opportunity and hopefully, you know, the Ellis Marsala Center will
Speaker 1: give them that. Wow again with the goose bumps. I'm
Speaker 1: sitting here with the goose bumps again. That's good. We
Speaker 1: like goose bumps. I'm so proud of you. I'm so
Speaker 1: I just wanna weren't for COVID and and the fact
Speaker 1: that we're not face to face. I would just give
Speaker 1: you the biggest Mama Delilah hug. So I'm so proud
Speaker 1: of you of what you do. I would take that
Speaker 1: in a second, and one day I we'll be able
Speaker 1: to hug each other again. For sure. For sure. We
Speaker 1: just got to get through this and we gotta come
Speaker 1: out stronger, and um, we'll do it. Thank you, Thank you, Harry.
Speaker 1: It's great hearing your voice again as always. Thank you, sweetheart.
Speaker 1: Give my love to your family, and do that thing
Speaker 1: around the dinner table, ask the really weird questions and
Speaker 1: and let your kids, let the girls come up with
Speaker 1: the questions. Oh yeah, I love it. I think that's
Speaker 1: a great idea. We're gonna do that tonight and have
Speaker 1: Jill big sour dough bread, sour dough bread tipped in
Speaker 1: olive oil, with the questions. Nothing like it in the world.
Speaker 1: I'm coming over to your house. I'll sit outside. Okay.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Harry Connick Jr. Stars still shine. We'll talk
Speaker 1: to you soon, honey. All right, Bye, Harry Connick Jr.
Speaker 1: We are so fortunate to have your music, You're acting talents,
Speaker 1: your love, your kindness, your family values, and your adorable nous.
Speaker 1: One more entertainer who models care and compassion. One more
Speaker 1: person using their gifts, their talents, their skills to change
Speaker 1: the world for good. On Heart at a Time, you
Speaker 1: can download Harry Connick Jr's new single, Stars Still Shine.
Speaker 1: You can watch his CBS special at CBS All Access,
Speaker 1: and you can help out kids who need your love.
Speaker 1: All that you can do. Thank you for joining me
Speaker 1: today on Love Someone with Delilah, and stay tuned to
Speaker 1: my radio show every single night. God bless you and
Speaker 1: take care.