Tag: existential 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 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

• 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

• “One Word of Praise”

  

  What if everything you’ve been told about spiritual progress is backwards? This song came from reading an ancient Buddhist text—the Lotus Sutra—that completely flips our understanding of how transformation happens. We’re taught that meaningful change requires years of effort, countless hours of practice, immense sacrifice. Grind long enough and maybe, just maybe, you’ll get somewhere.…

  William Altig

  October 7, 2025

  Chapter 18, Chapter 2, music, The Great Teachings of the Lotus of the True Law

  70s folk, acoustic blues, acoustic gospel, acoustic soul, acoustic storytelling, alt folk, Americana, americana blues, authentic folk, bluesy folk, Bob Dylan style, brushed drums, buddhist folk, buddhist music, conscious folk, contemplative folk, contemplative music, delta blues, dusty folk, Dylan-esque, earthy music, existential blues, fingerpicked guitar, folk ballad, folk gospel, folk noir, folk revival, gospel folk, Grounded folk, Hammond organ, hand percussion, healing music, honest folk, hope music, indie folk, interfaith music, intimate vocals, Iron and Wine, John Prine style, joy music, liberation songs, meditation music, mindfulness music, Modern Folk, organic folk, philosophical folk, porch music, praise music, raw vocals, roots music, sacred music, singer songwriter, Slide Guitar, slow blues, soulful acoustic, spiritual awakening, spiritual blues, Spiritual Journey, stripped down, sutra music, The Tallest Man on Earth, traditional folk, transformative music, universal spirituality, vintage folk sound, walking bass, wisdom songs