Dave Matthews: 'Giants' children's book inspired by New Orleans

March 2 (UPI) -- Dave Matthews Band frontman Dave Matthews says his new children's book was inspired by New Orleans.

The 53-year-old singer and musician appeared with his co-author, Clete Barrett Smith, on Monday's episode of Good Morning America, where they discussed If We Were Giants, their fantasy book for middle grade children.

Matthews said he first came up with his idea for If We Were Giants while he was recording music in New Orleans. The idea grew and evolved over a span of about 10 years.

"I'm not an author, and if I tried to write a book that would be abundantly clear. But I had this idea that came from when I was working, recording with a band down in New Orleans," Matthews said. "My daughters were very young, they're 18 now."

"There's always beautiful trees in the parks -- New Orleans is a magical place," he added. "I sort of started fantasizing about this story about this girl that lived in the woods and lived in sort of a kind of natural environment. In some ways very different from New Orleans, but my kids would be climbing around in the trees, so I'd come up with these stories and I'd tell them bits and pieces."

Matthews ended up sharing his idea with Walt Disney Studios president of production Sean Bailey, and met and started working with Smith on the book.

"We met up, and I loved his idea," Smith said. "The thing that's nice about Dave, for his fans out there, he's just as nice and kind and collaborative as you would expect. He let me add some things in and take some things -- he let me work with the idea and really be creative and collaborative, and I so appreciate that."

If We Were Giants follows Kirra, a young girl who lives in a hidden community inside a volcano. After her community is discovered, Kirra is taken in by a group of forest dwellers, and must confront her past mistakes when her new family is threatened.

If We Were Giants will be released Tuesday.