Harry Connick Jr. to Release Song to Benefit Katrina Victims

NEW YORK – Harry Connick Jr. was so moved by the devastation he witnessed in his Katrina-ravaged hometown of New Orleans, he wrote a song about it.

"All These People," Connick's duet with gospel singer Kim Burrell, will be released Aug. 29, the one-year anniversary of Katrina's landfall.

All proceeds will go to the New Orleans Habitat Musicians' Village, a rebuilding project formed by Connick and Branford Marsalis, Columbia Records announced Wednesday.

Connick was left shaken during a trip to New Orleans in the days immediately after the storm.

"The song is all about the people who were left stranded at the convention center," the 38-year-old singer said in a statement. "I wrote four verses, each describing what I saw as I was taken through by a kind fellow I had met on the street earlier that day named Darryl."

Connick said Burrell was the "perfect" duet partner because she represented the hurricane victims.

"She, too, had been deeply affected by the hurricane, and was moved by the challenge of putting her feelings into the song," he said.

"All These People" is the first single off Connick's New Orleans big-band album "Oh My Nola," set for release this fall.