I sat on a stool in the center of an empty gallery with a sheet of paper in my hand. On the paper was a variation of the lyrics to a song called “Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed” first recorded by Blind Willie Johnson in 1927. I rewrote the lyrics to remove all references to religious content. I sang the lyrics out loud without accompanying music. When I got to the end of the song I began again. I repeated this process without stopping for 8 hours in an attempt to degrade my voice match the emotional tone of a seasoned blues singer.