The DTB Podcast, Presented by Bless Your Heart Nonprofit Corporation · The DTB Podcast

S3E7 - Lilly Collins Riera

·45 min·3 clips

A song called 'Say Au Revoir and Not Goodbye' turned Lily's memorial portrait for a classmate into a family response.

Raj Jambal fills in for Brendan Mathurne and speaks with Lily Collins Riera, an artist from the Bayou Lafourche community. He opens by framing the area as picturesque and by pointing to the family line that shaped her work. Lily answers with a plain, full family roll call. She says she is the baby of seven children, born to Freddie Collins and her mother. She places her childhood in Golden Meadow and names the places that made that corner of town feel like home: Randolph's Restaurant, Dufresne's Bakery, and Plaison Snowball. She also talks about her own family, including a 30-year marriage and two children, including Roddy. The interview keeps its attention on place as much as on biography. That matters because the show treats her art as rooted in the bayou, not separated from it, and notes that her father captured the spirit of the bayou long before her. The conversation then turns to a story about a painting project and a song that would not let go. She had been trying to find the right music and could not. Then she and a friend went to an antique store. There she found a book of music. She opened it in the truck and saw the title "Say Au Revoir and Not Goodbye." She knew right away that she had found the song she needed. She went home, painted the house to that song, and finished the work right before Christmas. When she handed the story to the sister-in-law, the response confirmed why the moment felt so heavy. The family said they never got to say goodbye, and that was why the song mattered. Lily calls the whole thing God-driven and says she was only the middleman. The interview ends with a broader reflection on artists who turn a passion into a living, on her own early retirement, and on how people can message her about custom artwork and prints while the hosts thank the Bless Your Heart team and invite listeners to support the podcast and nonprofit.

As heard by us

A warm bayou portrait where family memory, faith, and one found song carry the episode.

Lily Collins Riera comes across as a bayou-rooted study of family, place, and an artist's long memory. The episode ties Golden Meadow, a 30-year marriage, and two children to the work itself, so the art feels inseparable from the landscape she grew up in.

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Why you'd press play

You want a Bayou Lafourche artist story with one song that lands like a message.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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