Tag: folk ballad

• The William Altig Choir: Blues Meets Buddhist Wisdom

  

  “Just to Cater to Your Whim” – The William Altig Choir Sometimes love looks like giving in. Sometimes compassion means meeting someone where they are, even when you know the path they’re walking won’t heal them. This song is about that impossible tightrope – when your heart can’t bear to see someone suffer, so you…

  William Altig

  November 10, 2025

  music

  acoustic ballad, acoustic blues, American roots, Americana, Blues Folk, blues storytelling, buddhist americana, buddhist blues, buddhist folk, buddhist music, Buddhist songwriter, compassion songs, Confessional Songwriting, contemplative music, dharma songs, enabling love, expedient means, fingerstyle guitar, folk ballad, folk dharma, gospel blues, intimate vocals, lotus sutra songs, parent child songs, pedal steel guitar, philosophical blues, roots music, slow blues, spiritual americana, spiritual blues, sutra music, teaching songs, traditional folk, William Altig Choir, wisdom songs

• 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

• Lay Your Shovel Down

  

  A Blues-Folk Song A blues-folk meditation on the exhaustion of trying to earn your worth through endless striving. This song walks through the valley of good intentions gone sour, calloused hands and hollow prayers, until a stranger by the roadside offers an ancient truth: the light you’ve been climbing toward was inside you all along.…

  William Altig

  November 3, 2025

  music

  acoustic folk, Americana, Blues, blues poetry, Confessional Songwriting, contemplative music, Dylan-esque, existential folk, Finger-Picked Guitar, Folk, folk ballad, Folk Spirituality, gospel blues, Grace and Surrender, Honest Songwriting, introspective lyrics, Lyric-Driven Folk, Modern Folk Hymn, philosophical blues, raw vocals, redemption song, roots music, Soul Searching, southern gospel, spiritual blues, Spiritual Seeking, storytelling song, Stripped Down Acoustic, traditional folk, wisdom tradition

• Twigs and Leaves

  

  A stark, bluesy folk ballad that tells a heavy story. Inspired by the dramatic schism in Chapter Two of the Lotus Sūtra, “Twigs and Leaves” is a song about one of the most subtle dangers on the spiritual path: arrogance (māna). It recounts the moment when 5,000 practitioners, believing they had already achieved enlightenment, walked…

  William Altig

  October 30, 2025

  Uncategorized

  acoustic, arrogance, bluesy folk, Buddha, Buddhism, Contemplative, Dharma, Ekayāna, Enlightenment, folk ballad, Houston, humility, Intimate, Lotus Sutra, mournful, Māna, original song, Singer-Songwriter, Spiritual, Stark, Storytelling, The William Altig Choir, Twigs and Leaves, wisdom

• 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

• “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

• Necklace of the Boundless Heart

  

  (A Bluesy Folk Song) “Dive into the soulful currents of ‘Necklace of the Boundless Heart,’ a bluesy folk ballad inspired by the Lotus Sutra’s timeless tale of compassion and shared merit. With a voice full of grit and grace, this song weaves the story of Bodhisattvas offering a jeweled necklace not for themselves, but for…

  William Altig

  March 23, 2025

  music

  acoustic, Blues, Blues Folk, Bodhisattva, Buddhist inspired, Compassion, cosmic, Emotional, Folk, folk ballad, generosity, Heartfelt, Lotus Sutra, Meditation, Merit, river imagery, Soulful, Spiritual, Storytelling, universal love