Tag: contemporary folk

• The Forgotten Promise | By The William Altig Choir

  

  We all carry something ancient within us—a promise made before memory, a purpose that calls to us through the noise of daily life. “The Secret Vow” is a heavy blues meditation on the profound loss we feel when we’ve forgotten why we’re here. Drawing from the Buddhist teaching of the Bodhisattva vow—the commitment to return…

  William Altig

  November 9, 2025

  music

  acoustic blues, Americana, Ancient Wisdom, awakening, benefit all beings, Blues, Bodhisattva, buddhist music, Choir, choral arrangement, Collective Awakening, community music, compassionate action, Conscious Lyrics, Conscious Music, contemplative music, contemporary folk, Deep Blues, delta blues, emotional blues, existential blues, Folk Blues, gospel blues, harmonica blues, healing music, heavy blues, intentional living, introspective folk, life purpose music, meaningful lyrics, meditation music, mindfulness music, modern blues, Modern Spirituality, musical activism, philosophical music, promise, purpose, remembering, roots music, sacred music, service music, Slide Guitar, Soul Searching, spiritual awakening, Spiritual Music, storytelling folk, The William Altig Choir, transformative music, vow, world music fusion

• The Delusion Chain

  

  A blues-folk confession about carrying the weight of our own minds. Starting in the darkness of recognition and moving toward the light of shared burden, this song traces the journey from isolation to acknowledgment—where simply naming what we carry begins to break its hold. Inspired by Chapter Twenty-Four of the Lotus Sūtra, “The Delusion Chain”…

  William Altig

  November 7, 2025

  music

  acoustic americana, acoustic blues, Americana, americana soul, authentic folk, blues confession, bodhisattva blues, breaking chains, buddhism and blues, buddhist blues, buddhist folk, burden song, chain gang blues, compassion music, confession song, confessional folk, conscious folk music, contemporary folk, country blues, deep folk, defilement blues, delta blues, early Dylan style, enlightenment folk, ethical folk, existential blues, fingerstyle guitar, Folk Blues, folk meditation, folk revival, folk storytelling, folk wisdom, greed and ignorance, human struggle, Lotus Sutra, meditation folk, mindfulness music, Mississippi John Hurt, moral blues, old time music, philosophical folk, piedmont blues, porch music, Raw Acoustic, recognition and healing, redemption song, Robert Johnson influence, roots music, sharing burdens, spiritual blues, spiritual folk, struggles and hope, sutra songs, talking blues, traditional folk, wisdom songs

• Already Home

  

  A slow blues ballad about the moment everything changes. I spent so long trying to earn my way, step by step, brick by brick—keeping score, watching the clock run down, wondering if I’d ever be good enough. Then one single moment of grace broke through, and I realized: I don’t have to keep trying anymore.…

  William Altig

  October 25, 2025

  Chapter 17, music, The Great Teachings of the Lotus of the True Law

  acoustic blues, acoustic storytelling, already enlightened, always already, Americana, apocalypse, appalachian folk, arriving, assurance, authenticity, awakening, bent notes, beyond measure, blue note, Blues, blues ballad, born again, bottleneck, breakthrough, buddhist blues, burden, burden lifted, Campfire Song, cathartic, celestial shore, chains breaking, coming home, Comparison, confessional, Conscious Music, Contemplative, contemporary folk, conversion, country blues, darkness to light, Deep Listening, delta blues, destination, dharma folk, divine presence, earned salvation, emotional journey, end of wandering, Enlightenment, eternal now, eternal presence, existential blues, face to face, faith, fingerstyle guitar, flash, folk ballad, Folk Blues, found, freedom, good enough, gospel blues, grace, grace over works, harmonica blues, here and now, home, honest, Imagery, immanent, incomparable, infinite value, instant, instant faith, intimate encounter, intimate vocals, kingdom within, letting go, liberation, life changing moment, light breaking through, lightning, live feel, lo fi blues, long road, lyric driven, meditation music, melancholic blues, Merit, Metaphor, minimal production, moment of clarity, mountain music, muddy waters, Mystical, narrative folk, natural sound, never left, no longer lost, old time, one take, one thought, organic production, original enlightenment, peace, pearl of great price, personal relationship, philosophical blues, piedmont blues, poetry, porch blues, presence, promise, promised land, raw recording, raw vocals, redeemed, redemption song, release, relief, religious exhaustion, religious folk, resonator, rest, rest for the weary, Revelation, roots music, sacred music, safe harbor, Samsara, sanctuary, saved, score keeping, self acceptance, singer songwriter, single moment, slide, slow blues, Southern gothic, spiritual blues, spiritual burnout, spiritual folk, Storytelling, striving, sudden grace, sudden vs gradual, suffering and liberation, testimonial, testimony, texas blues, thunder, timeless truth, Traditional, traditional blues, transcendent, Transformation, transformational, treasure, triumphant, trying too hard, unconditional love, unveiling, vertical leap, vintage sound, voice calling, Vulnerability, vulnerable, wheel of life, witness, worth more than

• The Woman in 4B

  

  A Blues Folk Ballad Three voices, one family breaking apart. A mysterious neighbor with an open door and endless tea. A blues-folk story about the three poisons we carry—greed, anger, and numbness—and the unexpected way we learn to set them down. Told through the eyes of a daughter scrolling her pain away, a son burning…

  William Altig

  October 13, 2025

  Chapter 10, music, The Great Teachings of the Lotus of the True Law

  acoustic, alt folk, Americana, Anger, apartment, apartment living, awakening, Blues, Blues Folk, Bob Dylan inspired, Bodhisattva, Buddhism, buddhist folk, call and response, city life, community, Compassion, Connection, Conscious Music, Contemplative, contemporary folk, Dharma, elder wisdom, Enlightenment, existential, family, finger picking, Folk, folk ballad, found family, gospel folk, Greed, grief, Harmonica, healing, healing journey, hope, indie folk, letting go, loneliness, Lotus, meditation music, mental health, Mindfulness, modern parable, mother daughter, multi-voice, narrative song, neighbor, open door, philosophical folk, Redemption, roots music, siblings, social isolation, Spiritual, Storytelling, tea, tea ceremony, therapeutic, three poisons, three voices, Tracy Chapman style, Transformation, urban folk, urban stories, wisdom

• The One That Stays

  

  “The One That Stays” wrestles with an ancient question: How do ordinary people offer something sacred when the old stories demand the impossible? Inspired by Buddhist teachings about sacrifice and perseverance, this song explores the tension between spectacular acts of devotion and the quiet heroism of simply continuing—of getting up, showing up, and staying present…

  William Altig

  October 9, 2025

  Chapter 23, The Great Teachings of the Lotus of the True Law

  Americana, bluesy folk, Buddhist Philosophy, contemplative music, contemporary folk, daily struggle, devotion, endurance, faith and doubt, folk pop, gospel influenced, human spirit, inner strength, meaningful life, ordinary heroism, perseverance, philosophical lyrics, protest song, Religious Poetry, resilience, roots music, sacred ordinary, social justice, soul folk, spiritual songs, standing firm, staying power, suffering and transformation, survival