Composing with Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters

Anderson Cooper is known for going wherever the story is, especially, we've learned, if it's in New Orleans.

"I love New Orleans," Cooper tells 60 Minutes Overtime. "I've been going there since I was a kid. My dad used to take me there. [He] went to high school there...my grandmother used to sell ladies' hats in Maison Blanche department store. So, I have a long history with the city."

As a reporter, Cooper has been to New Orleans to cover disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, but what brought him back this time was a 60 Minutes story on the rock band Foo Fighters.

The band was in New Orleans for a week, filming part of its documentary series "Sonic Highways," in which it visits eight American cities, spotlights local musicians, and writes music inspired by those musicians and the musical heritage of the city.

This is exactly what happened in New Orleans when Foo Fighters' lead singer and guitarist Dave Grohl wrote the song "In the Clear," and decided to record it while Cooper was in the room.

"I was like, 'Wait a minute,'" Cooper says. "'You just wrote this song an hour ago. You're now going to record it right here?'"

Sure enough, Grohl went over to the mic and invited Cooper to join.

"I'm just standing right next to him. He puts on headphones, and he just records this song," Cooper says. "It was very interesting because it wasn't in a recording booth. There was traffic going by on the street."

"He wanted to capture the authentic sound, not only the authentic sound of his voice, but the authentic experience of recording in Preservation Hall, in New Orleans, in the French Quarter. I was afraid, like, if I coughed, or whatever, it would end up on the recording, which it very well may have. But it was just such a cool experience."

The above video was produced for 60 Minutes Overtime by Magalie Laguerre-Wilkinson, Lisa Orlando and Sarah Shafer. Itwas originally published Oct. 26, 2014.