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"You know, NPR, we did three interviews, talking about how we did the record. And then, we did this documentary before we went, before Katrina, which showed me searching for who Sister Gertrude was. So, this documentary shows me all through New Orleans, hanging out on Bourbon Street and going to Sister Gertrude's house. Then, Katrina hit and a lot of the footage of the film, a lot of the buildings, are gone."

Clips of this documentary will be shown tonight at Memorial Hall, during the live reinterpretation of the album. The live performance is part two in the Sister Gertrude Morgan crash course he has been schooling Triangle residents on this week; Thursday afternoon, Britt delivered a lecture at UNC's Johnson Center. Britt says these lectures, which he has given at such places as New York's Whitney Museum and London's Institute of Contemporary Arts, offer a more appreciative perspective on Morgan and her contributions to art and culture.

"Because people love to look at it more on a historical basis rather than, 'Oh, it's just an album that King Britt did,' " he says. "Now, they look at it in a historical context like, wow, he actually did this documentary for Katrina -- all of this footage, finding out neat things about Sister Gertrude, and we're hearing her in these contexts. It's really trippy, you know."

Doing this album has opened many doors professionally for Britt. When filmmaker Michael Mann, a big fan of the album, was compiling music for his big-screen version of "Miami Vice" last summer, he gave Britt the chance to score some scenes. One of the Morgan tunes, "New World in My View," made it on the soundtrack album. Another opportunity that surfaced for Britt has him working on another Big Easy project: producing the latest album for legendary, traditional jazz collective the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.

"Yeah, man, it's crazy, because I'm working with these legends, and it's just like, wow," he says. "So, it's an educational process for me as well as them, because I'm learning more and more of the inner workings of the historical jazz scene from New Orleans. And they're learning about how I'm gonna use technology to bring a new audience to what they do."

So, thanks to a dearly departed sister and her forgotten work of musical genius, King Britt has found that even though touring the world, spinning at clubs and getting beautiful people all sweaty to his music is thrilling, hipping people to a bounty of great, historical music can reward in so many ways.

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