Tag: delta blues

• 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 Cure I Couldn’t See | The William Altig Choir

  

  A blues-folk meditation on the physician’s parable from the Lotus Sutra. This song tells the story of a soul searching desperately for healing, only to realize the remedy was offered all along—but pride and delusion kept them from believing. Inspired by ancient Buddhist wisdom translated through the language of Delta blues and Appalachian folk, “The…

  William Altig

  November 8, 2025

  Chapter 16, The Great Teachings of the Lotus of the True Law

  acoustic blues, acoustic folk, American roots, Americana, appalachian folk, Blues Folk, buddhist folk, buddhist music, Buddhist song, Conscious Music, contemplative music, delta blues, devotional music, Dharma blues, fingerstyle guitar, folk ballad, Folk Blues, folk gospel, gospel folk, harmonica blues, indie folk, Lotus Sutra, meditation music, philosophical folk, roots music, singer songwriter, slow blues, spiritual blues, spiritual folk, traditional blues, traditional folk

• 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

• Fifty Aeons Long

  

  “Fifty Aeons Long” by The William Altig Choir is a hauntingly beautiful folk-blues meditation on time, freedom, and perception. The song explores how our suffering often comes from clinging to minutes, regrets, and imagined futures—when the truth is timeless and already here. With finger-picked acoustic guitar, slide accents, upright bass, and a baritone voice that…

  William Altig

  October 27, 2025

  music

  acoustic blues, Acoustic Guitar, Americana, Americana folk, awakening, baritone vocals, cosmic folk, delta blues, Dharma blues, Enlightenment, Fifty Aeons Long, Folk Blues, introspective song, meditation blues, Mindfulness, Perception, philosophical blues, reflective song, roots music, Slide Guitar, slow blues, song about time, Songs of Awakening, spiritual folk, texas blues, The William Altig Choir, time, timeless song, william altig, William Altig music

• 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

• Cool and Refreshed

  

  “Cool and Refreshed” – A Spiritual Blues-Gospel Duet A powerful testimony of transformation told through male and female voices. “Cool and Refreshed” weaves Buddhist wisdom into the American blues-gospel tradition, exploring the journey from spiritual burden to liberation. Walking heavy with the weight of the past, two souls discover that their true nature is pure—not…

  William Altig

  October 24, 2025

  Chapter 6, music, The Great Teachings of the Lotus of the True Law

  acoustic gospel, Americana gospel, awakening music, blues ballad, blues gospel, blues soul, buddhist gospel, buddhist music, christian buddhist fusion, Conscious Music, contemporary gospel, delta blues, Dharma blues, enlightenment song, faith, faith music, folk gospel, freedom song, gospel duet, grace song, healing music, inspirational music, karmic healing, liberation music, male female duet, meditation music, mindful music, nectar song, neo soul gospel, prophecy song, pure nature, redemption song, revival gospel, roots music, sacred music, slow blues, soul ballad, soul music, southern gospel, spiritual awakening, spiritual blues, Spiritual Journey, Spiritual Music, spiritual testimony, teacher wisdom, testimony song, traditional blues, transformation music, uplifting gospel, worship music

• Faith Call, Insight Answers

  

  “Faith Calls, Insight Answers” is a Delta Dharma Blues song about the inner dialogue between faith and understanding — a call-and-response between the heart that believes and the mind that sees. Carried by slide guitar, handclaps, and a voice worn smooth by the road, this track brings the Eightfold Path down to earth. It’s not…

  William Altig

  October 20, 2025

  music

  acoustic roots, Americana, awakening songs, blues storytelling, buddhist music, call and response blues, delta blues, Delta sound, Dharma blues, Eightfold Path, enlightenment blues, faith and insight, Folk Blues, meditation music, mindful music, modern dharma music, porch blues, right understanding, roots folk, Songs of Awakening, soulful slide guitar, spiritual awakening, spiritual blues, The William Altig Choir, William Altig Choir, wisdom music

• The Sun Don’t Preach

  

  A raw, Delta blues track that wrestles with the difference between trying to fix a broken world with force and finding strength in a quieter, more patient wisdom. “The Sun Don’t Preach” is a story told through a bottleneck slide and a steady foot stomp, contrasting the “power of a God” with the “wisdom of…

  William Altig

  October 16, 2025

  music

  acoustic blues, Acoustic Guitar, Americana, Blues Music, bottleneck guitar, Buddhism, Compassion, Conscious Music, Contemplative, delta blues, Dharma, dharma song, Folk Blues, foot stomp, gritty, hope, indie folk, letting go, male vocals, Meditative, Original Music, Patience, Power, power of a god, powerful, Raw, resonator, resonator guitar, roots music, Singer-Songwriter, Slide Guitar, Soulful, spiritual blues, Spiritual Music, Spirituality, Storytelling, Struggle, The Sun Don’t Preach, wisdom, wisdom of the sun

• Love Till Love’s the Only Sure

  

  An old physician rolls into town with medicine that promises to cure any illness forever. But there’s a warning: “Many will hate this cure with jealousy.” Why? This 14-minute spiritual blues odyssey answers that question through the marriage of Buddhist philosophy and American roots music. It’s about three healers whose identities are threatened by ultimate…

  William Altig

  October 15, 2025

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

  432 Hz adjacent, 65 BPM, acceptance music, acoustic blues, acoustic gospel, activist music, agape, all is one, already free, americana blues, analog warmth, applied dharma, authentic blues, authentic recording, authentic self, awakening songs, beyond words, blues as dharma, blues philosophy, bodhisattva music, bodhisattva vow music, body wisdom, breath music, Buddha Nature, buddhist blues, Buddhist Christian dialogue, Buddhist meditation music, buddhist music, Buddhist Wisdom, call and response, centering music, church music, civil rights music, Compassion Meditation, compassion practice, confessional music, conscious blues, Conscious Music, consciousness music, Contemplative blues, contemplative music, contemporary spirituals, cosmic support, counterintuitive truth, crossroads blues, Deep Blues, Deep Listening, defended by love, delta blues, devotional blues, Dharma blues, Dharmapala music, direct pointing, ego death songs, Ekayana, embodied spirituality, emptiness and form, endurance music, enemy love, Engaged Buddhism, enlightenment music, esoteric blues, everyday awakening, existential blues, fearless compassion, flesh and spirit, folk gospel, forgiveness blues, four vows, freedom songs, frequency music, gospel blues, gospel soul, grounding songs, guardian songs, Hammond organ blues, harmonica blues, healing music, hidden teachings, hidden wholeness, highest teaching, holy blues, hope music, identity transformation, impossible love, indigenous wisdom, ineffable blues, Infinite Compassion, inherent enlightenment, interbeing music, interfaith music, intimate blues, Jack Kornfield vibes, Japanese aesthetics, juke joint gospel, karuna, letting go music, live feel, lo-fi blues, long suffering, Lotus Sutra music, love your enemies, Loving-kindness, ma music, Mahalia Jackson style, Mahayana music, medicine songs, meditation music, metta music, mindful listening, mindfulness music, MLK inspired, modern gospel, movement music, Music as Medicine, mystery songs, mystic traditions, mystical blues, narrative folk, natural tuning, neo-traditional blues, Nichiren Buddhism, non-dual awareness, nonviolent resistance, Odetta inspired, one take energy, one taste, One Vehicle, ordinary magic, original blessing, parable song, paradigm shift music, paradox music, patient love, Pauline Oliveros inspired, pause and presence, peace music, Pema Chodron style, perennial wisdom, perfectly imperfect, persecution and compassion, perseverance blues, philosophical blues, prophetic blues, protection music, protest blues, radical love, raw production, raw vocals, reconciliation songs, resilience songs, resistance music, revival blues, revolutionary spirituality, rootedness music, roots music, sacred blues, sacred mundane, sanctified blues, secret doctrine, secular sacred, Self-realization, serenity blues, Sharon Salzberg metta, silence and sound, slow ballad, slow blues ballad, socially engaged spirituality, somatic blues, Son House feel, soul blues, sound healing, space between notes, spiritual awakening, spiritual blues, spiritual folk, spiritual warrior, steel guitar blues, stones to doves, storytelling blues, street level enlightenment, suffering and redemption, supreme dharma, surrender songs, teacher of dharma, teaching songs, testimony songs, theological blues, Thich Nhat Hanh inspired, Tiantai Buddhism, traditional blues, transcendent music, transformation songs, transformative music, transmission music, true self music, truth telling, turn the other cheek, ultimate truth music, unconditional love, unconventional wisdom, unity consciousness, universal love, universal spirituality, unplugged blues, unpolished beauty, vibrational healing, vintage sound, votary songs, wabi-sabi music, we are one, wisdom tradition, witness music, woke blues, wrathful compassion, Zen and blues, zen blues

• The Light You Already Got

  

  A bluesy folk tale about a man who burned for a thousand years and a girl who smiled just once—and how they both found the same light. This song weaves an ancient Buddhist paradox into American roots music tradition. It’s the story of Strong-Heart, who gave everything—even setting himself ablaze for centuries—trying to reach enlightenment…

  William Altig

  October 14, 2025

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

  #interfaith, #Truth, 1960s folk revival, 3am song, accessible wisdom, acoustic, acoustic blues, ageless wisdom, aha moment, ahead of time, alan watts blues, album track, all paths one, already enough, already home, alt folk, American primitive, american zen, Americana, americana archive, amness, analog, analog warmth, artisan, as above so below, attention, authentic, authentic emotion, authentic seeking, authentic voice, awakening, awareness, back to the land mysticism, balanced path, bare, based on ancient teaching, basic, be here now folk, beat zen, beatnik blues, beautiful mess, before and after the same, being itself, being not doing, bespoke, bluegrass adjacent, Blues, both and, both and neither, boundaried yes, breath, Buddha-nature, buddhist americana, buddhist folk, bus stop satori, call and response, Campfire Song, can’t shake it, canonical, chop wood carry water folk, classic, clear, coal miner’s daughter adjacent, coffee and contemplation, commune folk, compassionate refusal, Conscious Lyrics, Conscious Music, consciousness, Contemplative, core, country blues, craftsman, creative, cross cultural wisdom, custom, daily bread, dark night of the soul, dawn breaking, deep, deep cut, deep lyrics, delta blues, democratic dharma, depression era sound, dharma folk, dialectic folk, different rivers same ocean, direct, distinctive, DIY mysticism, documentary worthy, dust bowl folk, ear worm, earned wisdom, Earnest, East meets West, echo, effortless effort, effortless path, empty highway, endurance, Enlightenment, esoteric folk, essence, essential, eternal now, eternal return, everyday enlightenment, everyday sacred, existence, existential folk, exposed, extreme and simple, faith and effort, fermata, field recording adjacent, film music adjacent, fingerstyle guitar, fire and smile, Folk, Folk Blues, folk ecology, folk philosophy, folk religion, folk renaissance, folk tale, for sustained listening, fractals in folk, fresh, front porch blues, front porch sessions, fundamental, gentle force, genuine, glorious imperfection, golden mean, goldilocks dharma, good news folk, gospel blues, grace not works, grassroots spirituality, grocery store kensho, handmade, handmade holiness, Harmonica, Haunting, headphone music, heart, Heartfelt, hegelian blues, here, hidden wisdom, high and low, hippie trail, hold, holographic universe, holy text blues, honest, honest doubt, human, human and holy, hummable, I and thou, imaginative, imperfect, important, indie-folk, individual universal, inherent worth, inner light, inner outer, innovative, instant enlightenment, intelligent, intentional community music, isness, jack kerouac dharma blues, journey not destination, joyful noise, just as you are, just right folk, keeping it real, ken burns folk, kind rebellion, kitchen recording, kitchen sink spirituality, kitchen table folk, knower and known, koan blues, late night, laundromat liberation, legend reimagined, less is more, library of congress, literate, lived experience, lo fi, long drive music, long haul, Lotus Sutra, loving resistance, lyrical, many doors one room, marathon not sprint, meaningful, meditation music, memorable, microcosm macrocosm, middle way, Mindfulness, moderation, Modern Folk, mountain and valley, mountain mysticism, mountain song, mundane divine, mystery tradition, myth retold, naked, narrative song, neo traditional, new, new sincerity, Nichiren, no BS, no irony, no original sin, non dual folk, non striving, not a single, not too tight not too loose, nothing special, noticing, now, old soul music, old tale new telling, old time music, one day at a time, one of a kind, One Vehicle, open, open road, ordinary mind, original, original blessing, parable, paradox song, parking lot awakening, Patience, pause, peaceful power, pema chodron folk, people’s Buddhism, Perennial Philosophy, perseverance, personal political, philosophical, philosophical blues, philosophical folk, piedmont blues, pilgrimage song, plain, plain speech dharma, Poetic, porch music, post ironic, prairie dharma, presence, process not product, profound, prophetic, protest adjacent, question and answer, quiet strength, ram dass adjacent, Raw, real, real faith, real feeling, real talk, reality, recognition, redemption song, relaxed intensity, remembering, resonance, rest, reverberation, riddle song, room tone, roots music, roots revival, sacred and profane, sacred music, sacred story, scripture folk, seer and seen, self and other, Self-realization, separate waves one water, serious, significant, silence, simple, simple living, sincere, singable, Singer-Songwriter, Skillful Means, slow blues, slow burn, smart, smithsonian folkways, social consciousness, soft revolution, Soul, Soundtrack, space, spirit, spiritual americana, Spiritual Music, standard, statement and reply, stays with you, Storytelling, straight up, straightforward, stripped down, stuck in your head, subject object, substantial, suchness, sudden vs gradual, sustain, sustainable practice, sutra song, systems thinking, taking out trash dharma, talking blues, tape hiss, tathata, temperance, tender no, testimony, thesis antithesis synthesis, thich nhat hanh acoustic, this, this moment only, thoughtful, thus, Timeless, timeless present, traditional folk, train song adjacent, true sound, true story, trying not trying, undefended, unique, unity consciousness, universal spirituality, universal truth, vintage sound, visionary, voluntary simplicity, vulnerable, waking up, walking music, warm, washing dishes blues, weighty, whistle while you work, wisdom traditions, witness, witness and witnessed, wordsmith, working class mysticism, wu wei folk, you are enough, zen and the art of folk music, zen blues