Fresh Air - Actor Danielle Brooks has blessings to count

Episode Date: September 15, 2026

Brooks grew up in a church where her mom was a minister and her dad a deacon. She went on to play Taystee in the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black. Now she co-stars in the indie film If I Go Will They Miss Me? Brooks spoke with Terry Gross about singing in the church, playing gospel icon Mahalia Jackson, and why she hesitated to take her breakout role in Orange.Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

This is fresh air. I'm Terry Gross. When Danielle Brooks started appearing in the Netflix series, Orange is the New Black, as the character Tasty, she was astonished to find she was recognized wherever she went. Orange was about women in prison, and Brooks played one of those women. When the series premiered in 2013, Brooks was a recent graduate of Juilliard, and Netflix was relatively new to producing original content. Two years later, while still filming Orange, she learned she'd gotten a role in the Broadway revival of the Color Purple as Sophia, the character that Oprah Winfrey played in the 1985 film. Rather than giving up one of those roles, she continued to shoot Orange while also performing

on Broadway. The Color Purple had special significance for Daniel Brooks. The original production of the musical was the first Broadway show she'd ever seen. It convinced her she wanted to act and that there might be a place for a black woman like her. She was nominated for a Tony for her performance in the revival and was nominated for an Oscar when she played Sophia again in the 2023 movie adaptation of the Broadway musical. While preparing for this interview, I learned she played the beloved gospel singer, Mahalia Jackson, in a 2021 biopic for the Lifetime channel that's now streaming on several platforms.

She gets to do a lot of singing in that, and as you'll hear later, it really shows off how emotionally and physically powerful her voice is. Brooks started singing and acting in church. Her mother is a minister. Her father is a recently retired deacon. Brooks was also recently in a Minecraft movie and in the series Peacemaker. Now she's in a new indie film called

If I go, will they miss me? It's about how one family's life is changed when the husband and father is released from prison and returns home, emotionally distant from his wife and two children. Brooks plays the wife and mother who has a steady job and is holding the family together with no help from her husband. Brooks and John Batiste are two of the executive producers. The credit music is John Batiste singing This Bitter Earth.

Daniel Brooks, welcome to fresh air. It's such a pleasure to be able to talk with you. Oh, Terry, it is so lovely to speak with you, too. Thank you for having me. My pleasure. So, you know, in Orange is the New Black you play, a prisoner. And now in this new movie you're playing the wife of somebody who's been in and out of prison. Yeah.

And in clemency, the father of your child is on death row. So this is like the third that I'm aware of, the third movie related to prison that you've been in. And I wonder if you see that as related to mass incarceration, like a reflection of mass incarceration. When you put it like that, I'm like, man, I need to do. I don't know, a royal queen or something. Well, you come close and mehalia. Yay, I love that. Yeah, for sure.

I mean, yeah, this is the world we live in, you know. And for me, I'm always searching, reaching for honesty and truthfulness in what is in this world. You know, I feel like I've been able to do a lot in my career. But yet we do find ourselves back in places like this, you know, when you mention, like, playing a woman that's incarcerated. When it comes to Orange is the New Black and playing Tasty, this inmate, there was just so much complexity to who she was. And to be honest, Terry, I didn't want to play Tasty in the beginning.

Why not? You know, because she was an inmate and because I was nervous coming out of Juilliard, 21 years old, like, oh, my gosh, I'm about to play an inmate. And what is that, you know, saying about black women, you know, what viewpoint am I putting out about black women? But then I remember my audition and the casting director saying, you know, I know what's on the page, but she's very lighthearted. She has a lot of heart to who she is, joy to who she is. And I was so excited because I was like, that's the direction I was already planning on going with her. And you see me singing, you know, in the shower, you know, in the beginning, that's the first scene, is me singing, tell me something good.

And it's just that's what drew me to her. It was more to her. She was a young woman who actually did not commit the crime. She was in foster care. You know, she started a riot, you know. There was just a lot to the person, you know. And I find that to be true with clemency. And if I go, will they miss me especially?

So John Batiste is one of the executive producers of the film, and he sings the credit music. at The Spit of Earth, which Dinah Washington had a popular recording of. And I'm wondering, I know he went to Juilliard. Did you know each other in Juilliard? We did. And you've recorded together also. Yes, we did.

John Batista and I were at Juilliard at the same time, and we also graduated the same year. I remember watching him in the halls. And he was a hoot. I mean, this man would be running around with that small, miniature piano that he plays in his hand, blowing it, you know, as like if he was on a line in New Orleans, you know, with his friends behind him, jamming in the cafeteria. And I was like, who the heck is this man? You know, he was just so, such an, like, artist, you know what I mean? Like, artsy-fartcy kid from New Orleans. Did you introduce yourself to him?

I think we just knew each other because we were black kids at Juilliard. It's not but so, many of us, you know what I mean? And so I actually remember we would do these like crossovers. So it's where like the drama division would hang out with the musician. So he was in the jazz department. And we would jam. And I remember like John would play something and they asked one of the actors to sing with him. And I remember that was the thing. So it was like a call and repeat type thing where he would play like a doodle do do do do do and I would repeat it with my voice you know so I just feel like we bonded from that and then you know we had like the Martin Luther King days where all the black people would get together and others too and put on a show in in reverence of

MLK like so we just found each other you know what I mean we built that community and then from there on, like, I did an EP of my own music called For, and I asked John once we graduated if he would be on that, and he did. And then he asked me to do a Christmas song with him for Spotify, and I did. And then we did color purple together, you know, like, it was just so many, like, full circle, beautiful moments that we've been able to share. So I want to talk about your singing. I want to play Hell No. from the movie version of the color purple. But first, what was your audition for the Broadway revival

when you first got to play Zafel? Oh, my gosh, Terry. So, I mean, it's layered, okay? Because I had seen the color purple on Broadway at 15. My dad had taken me. And, you know, I go to Juilliard. There was a big deal because you were from Greensville, South Carolina. Oh, yes.

And so you were doing an internship in New York and you got to see the color purple. Yes. Your first Broadway show? Yes. Took me to the Broadway show Color Purple because to be honest at the time. And that's all another conversation. But that was the only black show outside or considered the only black show outside of the Lion King, which is actually about animals, played by black actors. That was on Broadway at the time.

And so, yeah, my dad took me. I was in awe. My jaw was on the floor, tears falling down my face. I was like, this is what I want to do. So what was your audition song? A hell no. Oh, wow. That's... That's a big idea. And I remember, like, they had this. Was that your choice or their choice? No, that's their choice. They want to make sure that that's what we was singing. Yeah, for sure.

But I remember, like, they had a table with the director and producers, and I went straight up to that table, and I tapped that table. And I was like, all my life I've had to fight. And I just remember them being like, whoa. And I could feel them being like, yeah, this is our Sophia. Because of course Sophie would have enough cahoonas to come up to the table and get right in our face. That's great. So let's hear the real thing. So this is Sophia basically saying to Cili, if a man raises his hand to you, hell no, fight back.

Don't take it. All my life, I've had to fight. I had to fight my daddy, had to fight my brothers, my cousins, my uncles too. But I never, never, never, never thought I'd have to fight in my own house. I feel sorry for you to tell you. the truth you remind me I'm a mama

oh man I love that you sound so good in that one of the hardest things in a musical I think is to get from the dialogue

into the song and I'm wondering what that was like for you like how you try to make that transition from dialogue

to song well I think you know we're taught When it's time to sing, it's the most heightened moment of the section, you know, whatever part. Right. It's too big to express just through spoken word. Exactly.

And so I think that just helps, you know, you as an actor to know the movement of the piece. You know, and that was exciting to get to do that. Because I'm not a theater girl like people, a musical theater girl, like people think, Terry. You know, that was, I had done only one other musical before that, and that was Rent, you know, and I didn't grow up. Where were you in Rent? I was the soloist, the 525,600 million, the main soloist in Seasons of Love, who hits the high note. Oh, was this on Broadway? No, this was in Ithaca, New York, at a theater, a regional theater.

Yeah. And I didn't grow up, you know, listening to all the musical theater song. I was a church girl. But you sang in church, right? Yes, I sang in church from four, three, four years old. I was singing in church. And wasn't much of a soloist, I have to say. I was definitely a part of the choir.

And there's video of me singing in church when I did have solos. And you can see I am so shy. Like I literally had the lyrics like the words, you know, written on a piece of paper and I'm looking at them because I'm so scared that I'm going to forget them. I'm super shy back then. How did you get from super shy to singing a song like hell no? God. Truly. Like, I feel like, you know what?

This is what I'll say. For me, when I am playing a character, I get to escape. and that is my favorite place to be because I get to not be Danielle. When someone would ask me to sing as Danielle, it would terrify me. But ask me to sing as Sophia, ask me to sing as Mahalia, I got you. Because it was my way of like hiding behind the character. Let's talk more about singing and church. So you grew up singing in church, mostly in the choir.

But starting when you were like three or four. What were some of your favorite gospel songs? Ooh, that is such a good question. Oh, man, there was this song. It goes, I have some good days. I've had some hills to climb. I've had some weary days. And some sleepless nights.

But when I look around and I think things over, all of my good days, outweigh my bad days. And I won't, I won't complain. That was one of my favorite songs. What made it one of your favorite? Well, when I was six, that was, or six or seven, I don't remember, it was my first church solo. Now, what does a six, seven-year-old know about complaining in good days and bad days? I don't know.

But that was my song. And then when I became an adult, I understood what that song meant. That's why I love that song so much, because we do have good days and we have, bad days. It's unescapable being a person, right? But it's also perspective at times. It's like, how are you choosing to see those days? And I choose to do as least amount of complaining as I can, you know? And that's what that song is really saying, is like, how can you just see the good when you look around and think things over and gratitude should always lead the way? We were talking earlier about being in Juilliard, and you got there with the help of $20,000 that your godmother left for you in her will.

And I think she died not long before you got accepted to Juilliard. Who was your godmother? Who was so generous? Her name was Annie Edge. She was so spectacular to me. She was an older woman, probably in her 60s. and we just bonded. I asked her to be my godmother at five, and I met her at church.

And so my mom said, yeah, and we were stuck at the hip. I mean, I would spend the night over her house. You know, she taught me what an English muffin was. You know, I taught her to forget people that were behind her when she's driving and they're asking her to drive faster by honking. I was like, don't worry about them, Miss Edge. Like, we were tight. And she unfortunately passed away from cancer when I was 15.

And that hit hard for me. That was one of my first losses. I had experienced death in a personal way outside of losing my mother's mother. So this was a heavy one for me. I was tight with her. And I had no idea that she had left $20,000 in her will for my college education. And we needed that money, Terry. We, you know, I was the firstborn and my parents were lower middle class at the time.

And, you know, they worked really hard, but wasn't able at the time to save money for my college, you know. And have expectations at the time for me to, you know, not study it. They didn't know that their kid was going to want to go to Juilliard, you know, they were thinking maybe a state in state school, you know, where you can get funds from the state, you know, make it cheaper. But yeah, their baby girl had big dreams. And, you know, luckily, Ms. Edge saw something in me and made that generous donation to my education. And I have something called the Annie Edge Scholarship, which the Annie Edge Scholarship I started over five years ago. And it's, you know, you have to apply. And it was only for my, you know, the kids at the

church who were getting ready for college, you know. And so, yeah, I just am so thankful for Ms. Edge. And that's my way of honoring her. Did Ms. Edge have children? She did not. I was her child. No, she did not have any kids. Wasn't married. Yeah, it was just her. How did your mother feel about that? Do you think she was at all jealous? No, I think my mother knew that it takes a village, and I think she was so grateful that I had somebody like Ms. Edge. And I'm grateful that my mom, you know, functioned like that because there are parents who do get jealous that their kid doesn't run to them first for whatever. But my mom took it as like, oh, thank God. she has somebody that I can trust, that I know that is instilling good things in her, that she can

lean on. And I treat my daughter the same way. You know, I can't always be there because of the line of work that I do. I always make sure that my presence is known that Mommy is here, but I can't always physically be there. And so I, because of how my mother treated me with Ms. Edge, I do the same thing, and I am very encouraging of, you know, Freya connecting with other positive women. Yeah, Freya, yeah. If you're just joining us, my guest is Daniel Brooks. In the Netflix series, Orange is the New Black, she played Tasty. In the Broadway revival of the musical The Color Purple,

and in the 2023 film adaptation of the musical, she played Sophia. She also appeared in a Minecraft movie and won a Critics' Choice Award for her role in the series, maker. She co-stars in the new film, If I Go, Will They Miss Me? We'll be back after a short break. I'm Terry Gross, and this is fresh air. This is fresh air. I'm Terry Gross. Let's get back to my interview with Daniel Brooks. She co-stars on the new film, If I Go, Will They Miss Me? In the Netflix series, Orange is the New Black, she played Tasty. In the Broadway revival of the musical, the color purple, and in the 2023 film adaptation of the musical, she played Sophia. She's also known for her roles in a Minecraft movie and for the series Peacemaker for which she won a

Critic's Choice Award. She played gospel singer Mahelia Jackson in a biopic for the Lifetime channel that's now streaming on several platforms. Brooks's father is a retired deacon. Her mother is a minister. Did you hear a lot of Mahalia Jackson when you were growing up? I did. I did. Yeah, she definitely was in our home. for sure. My mother's a singer as well, so. Oh, okay. So when you got the part as Mahalia Jackson in a movie that's officially called Robin Roberts Presents, Mahalia. And so what your parents must have been so excited because your mother is a minister and your father was a deacon. Yes. The church was so excited. And, you know, the movie actually dropped during the pandemic. And so.

21. Yeah. So what we did was we did a private screening for the church that I grew up in in Simpsonville, South Carolina, Bethlehem Baptist Church. And everybody stayed in their cars. And we got a huge projector out in the parking lot. And everyone listened from a radio station and watched it like old school, you know, movies. They watched it in their cars. And that was so cool, you know, like, this place that I really do think helped me to love the theater, believe it or not. Like the church is where I think my love for theater came to be able to share something with them that I knew was going to be meaningful. So I want to play you as Mahalia Jackson from the soundtrack of the movie. And what I want to play is, My God, is real. Oh, wow. You sound great on this. So let's hear it.

guess Daniel Brooks. There are something I may not know. There are some places, dear Lord, I cannot go. But I am sure of this one thing that God is. So that is a beautiful song and you sing it so well. What did you have to do with your singing to sound like you were Mahalia Jackson for the movie? Terry. We worked on music for probably two weeks, I think, because I did sing all of that.

And the hardest part was getting rid of the things that I was taught at Juilliard, to be honest, which is one of the things that they taught us, you know, and gave us in our toolbox. It's like knowing when to throw, you know, the baby out with the bathwater, as one might say, you know, letting go of the technique when it's time. And that's what I had to do. Like so, for example, you know, when she says, cheering. You know, I would be singing children, and I had to stop myself. And, like, why am I saying children?

She would say cheering, you know? Or just, like, not over-articulating things. I'm going to meet Abram and Isaac. You know, normally I would be like, I'm going to meet Abram-Mitt, like, articulating all of the, you know, consonants and stuff. Like, I had to really break it down in kind of like a Shakespearean way. like I would with Shakespeare and, you know, you have iambic pentameter and things like that. And you just have to, it's like a code. You got to create a code for yourself to understand how this woman speaks and where she speaks from and how she uses language, you know.

And that's the thing. Like, Mahalia sings all the way down in her feet, you know. So when I would do this, I would, I would, I would. be barefoot when I was in the studio, you know, because you really do need to be that, it's that low. To be honest, she sings from another place, too, but I'm trying to be respectful, you know, but that core space is where she sang from. So you grew up very churched with your mother and minister and your father a deacon. And was it, did you go up with the feeling that your parents had a special connection to God?

Oh, for sure. I mean, my mother was a praying and still is a very prayed up woman. She would be the one at 6 a.m. You would hear her downstairs in the living room, speaking in tongues, praying, talking to God. You know, it was, yeah, she woke you up in prayer. And at the time, you know, we had two floors and she would turn up the music. Like, you had speakers in each room, even though we was not rich, even though that sounds very rich. We had these speakers in our house.

And she would play gospel music on Saturdays at probably 8 in the morning to wake me and my brother up to clean the house, which sounds so old school now that I'm. saying it back to you because nobody's really asked me questions like that. And my dad was too. You know, he wasn't as forthshowing, if that's the right word to say. Or like he wasn't as showy with his relationship with God. Like he went to church all the time and obviously was a deacon. But like my mother was the one you saw like in worship all the time and still. Did you speak in tongues? No.

No, not at all. Like, no. Definitely did not. I would say I do feel that I have a wonderful connection to God, you know, in the spirit, and still practice Christianity and go to church on Sundays with my family, you know. And I am in, I listen to gospel music like no other genre because it's, you know, just soothes my soul and I feel like gospel music has always been that for me. My help mate in life. So feeling that your parents were kind of had a special relationship with God and were like

God's representative or close to God, did it make you like in awe of your parents? Did you feel like you couldn't misbehave because that would be misbehaving in front of God in a way that people's regular parents who weren't leaders of the church wouldn't feel? Yeah, for sure. There was a lot of pressure as a kid to be perfect. I think that's like probably one of those things in my adulthood. I'm still going to there before. You know, it's like this sense of perfection, not getting anything wrong.

And you know, the Bible says, honor thy father and mothers that your days may be long on this earth. And so that rang very true in my house. You know, we needed to do what our parents wanted us to do. There was no way around it, you know. And if you had slip-ups, it just, the guilt that weighed on you, you know, was heavy for me. And I don't know if it stemmed from me doing pageants at church, you know, and they taught you how to hold your feet and how to stand.

I don't know. It was just this perfection that was built. built in me pretty early. And maybe it's being the first child, you know, and the responsibilities of being a good example to my brother, you know, and I say I respectfully say this, you know, but I think my mom really cared a lot about what others thought. And I say respectfully, Mom, if you hear this.

But, you know, I think that had a lot. to do with it is what do people see and how are they perceiving you. And maybe that's a southern thing. You know, maybe it's not just a my mom thing. I don't think it's just a your mom thing. Yeah, a lot of people, right? Yeah, I think so. Yeah. What did they want you to do that you didn't want to do? Oh, that's a deep question. Well, one thing, you know, was there was a fear of me going to Juilliard. My mother was really scared for me and my dad said to me, he was like, I want you to follow your heart. And so I did. You know, I went to Juilliard and she was just scared of like, you know, being in New York and her child leaving at 17. And then she was nervous about me

doing Orange is a New Black. And then my father again was like, follow your heart. And I did. and that changed my life, you know, but then there was that fear of, like, what is she being exposed to? You know, there's a lot, the subject matter of lesbians and gays was all up and in between Orange is New Black. So that was a fear, you know, of what I was being taught. Fow language. Foul language. I mean, we had. Drug.

Come on. The list goes on. Yeah, I can keep going, yeah. So, yeah, Mama was shooketh. But she got over it. She really started to see the beauty of the show as time went on. Your first scene in Orange is The New Black, where, you know, the person whose story we start with is in prison. And then everybody gets their stories.

But, you know, it's based on the character whose memoir, the series is based on. But anyway, so she gets in the shower. your character comes by and makes comments about her body and gets into the shower naked. And I know when you read that, you thought, oh, I can't do naked. Terry, you already know. I was like, I can't do naked. Right. And you're probably thinking about what your parents would think.

But you're not really naked. I mean, we don't see your body. We know that you're in the shower naked. So did you tell the director, I want the role? I can't be naked. You can't see my naked body. I waited until I got there. And I was terrified because I knew it was on this page.

You know, it was like she takes her clothes off and gets in the shower. And I think they, I think low-key, if I would have done it, they would have kept it. Like, if I would have said, all right, here's, you know, I'm doing it, they would have kept it. But I remember our director's name was Michael and I talked to him about it. and we found a solution. And do you know how I felt like this weight lifted off of my shoulder when we came up with that solution where we did not have to be topless? I was like, wow.

Because when you're coming into this industry, you hear all of these stories, you know, and all of these sacrifices people make to get the job, you know. And so I was scared. I was like, I don't want to. enter this and this is the start for me. It's like my first scene, I'm just going to be known as the girl who takes the clothes off. Like I was saying I'm an inmate. Like, what am I doing? But it was the best decision ever that I could have ever made for my career. If you're just joining us, my guest is Daniel Brooks. She co-stars in the new film If I Go,

Will They Miss Me? You may also know her from Orange is the New Black, the color purple, a Minecraft movie, and the series Peacemaker. We'll be right back. This is Fresh Air. This is fresh air. Let's get back to my interview with Daniel Brooks. She co-stars on the new film If I Go Will They Miss Me. She's known for playing Tasty in the Netflix series Orange as the New Black, and Sophia in the Broadway revival of the musical The Color Purple and the 2023 film adaptation of the musical.

Brooks grew up in the Baptist Church. Her mother is a minister and her father is a retired deacon. She sang in the church choir. In 2021, she portrayed gospel singer. Mahalia Jackson and a biopic that is now streaming on several platforms. One of the things I love about gospel songs and hymns is that so many of them are about death, about the fear of death, about the release of death, being reunited with loved ones. So some of the songs are from the perspective of being frightened and others are reassuring.

I wonder if you have a favorite gospel song about death. I do. It's called precious Lord, and it goes, Precious Lord, take my hand, lead me on, and let me stand. I am tired I am weak I am worn

through the night lead to the light So won't you take Take my hand Precious Lord Yeah that's one about death And it is so beautiful You sing that in the Mahal

Jackson movie. I do. And Mahaley Jackson sang it at Martin Luther King's funeral. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Such tie-ins. And do you know that from church from when you were growing up? I do. And it's definitely a song that I heard all the time in church. And we sang it when it was time to leave church. And we sang it at people's funerals. I even think I sang it at my grandmother's funeral. If I'm not mistaken, I believe I did. But yeah, that song I heard all the time. Back in when you were 25 and you're about to be 37, so that was about a little more than 10 years ago, there was an article in Glamour magazine that had your byline and it was headlined how I learned to love my body. And it's all about body image being plus-sized, your hair. And, you're just a lot. And, you're

you said or you wrote by the standard definition of beauty that I had absorbed from the world around me, I had three strikes against me. I was too dark, too curly, and too fat. And you ask a question in that essay that I think is a really important one. You write, if art is supposed to reflect life, why don't the people on red carpets and in magazines reflect reality? It doesn't. It doesn't. I think about it all the time. I just remember being in rooms like Golden Globes. And I would say to myself, Terry, I would say, is there anybody in here I could change a dress with? And if you think about it, there are 67% of women that wear a size 14 or more. And that does not reflect what we see on television.

Now it's starting to change and shift. You know, we're having amazing actresses out now that are reflective, you know. But in Hollywood, we're talking about. A-listers, big dogs, the ones that are on Vogue and Cosmopolitan and Vanity Fair, they do not look like me. And I think that has been one of my main goals is to be able to like bust open the box, break that thing down and really allow this next generation to, to say, wow, man, if Danielle was able to do that, I can do that. What do you think the GLP-1 has done to the body positivity movement? Oh, now you're getting deep.

I think, now this might be controversial, but I think it's helping because I don't think body positivity is just about, like, loving your body, you know, even if it's big, just love it. I think you should love your body at whatever size, you know. And for me, like, I've lost 80 pounds. People don't really notice. I don't understand why because I'm very proud of it. Like, I've lost 80 pounds from when I had my daughter in 2019.

And there was moments when I had gained that weight and I wanted, I was hiding. I was hiding from the world when it came to social, media you know if you go back and watch that first episode of peacemaker you're going to see those 80 pounds on me but i worked really hard i worked super hard on my own you know and to got down to maybe like 60 pounds you know less on my body and then i started taking g lp once and and i'm not ashamed at first i was at first i was like definitely what am i doing like is this healthy is safe. And after being on them for months, I am very happy that I made that choice. You know, I feel more confident. And I think the thing that I have always preached is love yourself

wherever you are. I have never said that you got to stay there. So I'm here for it. Daniel Brooks co-stars in the new movie, If I Go Will They Miss Me? It's currently in a limited release and will open in more theaters this Friday. This is fresh air. This is fresh air. Let's get back to my interview with Danielle Brooks. She co-stars in the film, If I Go, Will They Miss Me? She's known for her role in the Netflix series Orange as the New Black, as Tasty, and for her role in the Broadway revival of the musical The Color Purple, and in the 2023 film adaptation of the musical, as Sophia. Brooks was also in a Minecraft movie and recently won a critical. Choice Award for her performance in the series Peacemaker adapted from a DC Comics superhero series.

I want to play one more song. And this is a song from an EP of four songs that you recorded. And this is a song that you co-wrote. And John Batiste is featured on it. We hear his voice very, very briefly on it. But what role did he play on this? Did he produce it, arrange it? Is he at the piano? He's at the piano. He came. at the end on the organ and spiced up the song for me and lended his voice, like you say, very lightly in the end. And we kind of go back to that, Julia Art feel that I had mentioned that call and response at the very end of the song. And I think it's interesting, given all the discussion that we had about church and gospel music, that this is a secular song, but it's called

blessings. And it's about kind of, you know, being grateful for your blessings. Can you talk a little bit about what inspired the song? Hey, I guess I'm really just fond of, you know, staying positive, man. Like, I just know that life gets tough. And I guess this was my version of the gospel song, I won't complain. You know, it's that reminder to count your blessings. I'm on my feet, you know, four, five, six, no, I can't. And for a grid, at the end of the day, I got blessings to count.

Like, I got so much to be grateful for, you know. And I think for me, I just, I need that reminder, you know, and I want people to be reminded. And the reason I want people to be reminded is because we affect each other so powerfully, you know, and how beautiful that is if we could just find ways to uplift each other. Daniel Brooks, it's been such a pleasure to talk with you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Terry. Thank you for having me. Thank you for your poignant questions and, you know, allowing me to reflect on what life has been in my 37 years almost. You know, I really appreciate you. Thank you. And here you are singing blessings.

And I question my will to go on Gotta remember Gotta remember Count one, two, three I'm still on my feet Count four, five, six No, I can't forget At the end of the day

While there's blood flowing through my veins I've died blessings, blessings, blessings to count when I feel unqualified. And it seems like I can't make it through no matter how hard I try When my dreams Daniel Brooks co-stars on the new movie If I Go Will They Miss Me?

It's currently in a limited release And we'll open in more theaters this Friday. Tomorrow on fresh air, President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has said, Peace deals are like real estate deals. He's involved with both, as the U.S. Special Envoy negotiating peace plans while working on private business deals with some of the same countries. We'll talk with the New Yorkers, Dexter Filkins, about his story, Jared Kushner's Dollar Diplomacy. I hope you'll join us. To keep up with what's on the show and get highlights of our interviews, follow us on Instagram at NPR.

FR Fresh Air. Fresh Air's executive producer is Sam Brigger. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham. Our engineer today is Adam Stanishefsky. Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Anne Rebel Donato, Lauren Crenzel, Teresa Madden, Monique Nazareth, Thea Chaliner, Cizin, Yucundi, Anna Bauman, and Nico Gonzalez Whistler. Our digital media producer is Molly C.V. Nesper.

Roberta Shorok directs the show. Our co-host is Tanya Moly. I'm Terry Gross.