It’s been five years since Philadelphia DJ King Britt remixed Sister Gertrude Morgan. The result was the prosaically titled King Britt Remixes Sister Gertrude Morgan, and this Friday and Saturday, the Contemporary Arts Center will host King Britt’s Sister Gertrude Morgan Experience, a performance built around those remixes.

King Britt

It was Andy Hurwitz, founder of Ropeadope Records, who first conceived of the remix project. “I had just finished the Philadelphia Experiment remixes for his label,” says Britt. “He thought, ‘Wow, what would happen if King were to get his hands on this material.’ At the time I was in a creative rut, so it was perfect timing.”

Gertrude Morgan (1900-1980) was born in Lafayette, Alabama and spent the first half of her life working as a nursemaid. In her late thirties, she received a message from God calling her to evangelism. She left her old life behind to come to New Orleans, the “Headquarters of Sin”. Her religious work took on many forms, but today she is best known by the artifacts she left behind: a body of paintings and a single recording, cut at Preservation Hall in the early ’70s. Let’s Make a Record captures Morgan’s cultivated and powerful vocal style in an improvisational setting, accompanied only by her tambourine.

King Britt’s approach to remixing Morgan was similarly spontaneous. “We put [her] into ProTools, put it in time, and basically started to jam with Sister,” he says. “Like if she was in the studio.” The sounds that he layered over Morgan’s recordings were all produced live. “It was all original stuff, nothing from other people’s records,” he says. “I would program the beat around her vocal and the tambourine. Then (guitarist) Tim (Motzer) would come in. He would pick the tone of the guitar and that would be the foundation. And we would build on that. It was an organic process.”

Britt’s productions cross a range of styles, but always in service of their source material. Take “Living Bread”, which features one of the record’s most insistent beats while maintaining a thoroughly rootsy tone. A harmonica moans along with Morgan while her tambourine fades in and out of Britt’s programmed drums.

Sister Gertrude Morgan by Sylvia de Swaan

Britt has been continually been surprised at the reception and longevity of the record. His rendition of Morgan’s “New World in My View” has been featured on the soundtracks for the 2006 Miami Vice film and the TV series True Blood. “We did Voodoo two years ago,” he says. “[It] was amazing to do it in New Orleans. Everyone was just losing it. The Preservation Hall Band did it with us.”

The Preservation Hall connection will be rekindled at this week’s show. “One night Ben Jaffe’s going to join us,” says Britt. “We’re doing a few different versions of songs to include [Ben Jaffe’s] tuba.” Britt sees this weekend’s event as a possible culmination to the Gertrude Morgan show. “I think would be great that it ends here in New Orleans, Ben Jaffe playing with us. It’s just a great way to end the legacy.”

Tickets are available at the CAC website or by calling 504.528.3800.