Carter, Connick do their home work in New Orleans

The two are supporters of Habitat for Humanity, and both expressed their excitement about the organization's construction of houses in this section of the city, where block after block of flooded-out homes still sit vacant on lots with overgrown grass.

"To be part of this rebuild is thrilling," said Connick, who took his 12-year-old daughter, Georgia, to the construction site. "I feel like it's a moral responsibility to rebuild New Orleans, and I'm going to continue to do what I can to help."

Seven homes were being built on the street Wednesday by hundreds of volunteers through Habitat as part of a building blitz Carter is leading this week along the Gulf Coast. In all, more than 250 houses will be built -many through the end of the year -in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas.

The sound of hammers pounding and motorized saws buzzing was music to the ears of the Rev. Johnny Arvie, pastor of a Baptist church across the street from where Connick and Carter were working.

"They're helping the church and the community by helping to rebuild the neighborhood," said Arvie, whose Law Street Baptist Church took more than 6 feet of water when Katrina struck in August 2005. He said the congregation has been slow to return.

"People can't move back without a place to live," he said.

The homes being built in New Orleans on Wednesday were just blocks from the core site of the Musicians Village, the cluster of homes Connick and fellow New Orleans musician Branford Marsalis built through Habitat after the storm. The village provides affordable housing for musicians and others who lost their homes in Katrina's flooding.

Connick regularly drops by when he comes to New Orleans to visit family about every two to three months, he said. Though there is still much work to be done, Connick said the Musicians' Village has come a long way.

About 50 of the 72 homes in the village's core site are complete, and construction has begun on the village's centerpiece -the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, which is named for the jazz pianist and patriarch of the Marsalis family. The center will include a performance hall and practice rooms and serve as a place for musicians of different ages and genres to mingle.