In this episode of The Listening Porch, Ray Hughes explores what happens when music moves from being lived to being consumed.

Drawing from his book 107 Things I Forgot to Say About Worship, Creativity, and Music, Ray unpacks how the invention of technology—from the microphone to the radio—shifted music from porches and fields to studios and stages.

What began as a divine sound born from place and purpose became a business built on access and control. But somewhere in that evolution lies an invitation: to recover the song that’s still inside us.

Topics include:

- Why “listening to music” and “being a song” are two different things

- How the music industry evolved from access to control

- Biblical roots of music as sound, place, and presence

- The prophetic role of musicians, troubadours, and poets through history

- Why technology redefined what worship sounds like

- How to find your own “porch” again in a digital world

Referenced Scripture & Themes:

Psalm 33:3 — “Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.”

1 Samuel 10:5 — “You will meet a procession of prophets... playing lyres, tambourines, flutes, and harps before them.”

2 Chronicles 5:13–14 — The unity of musicians bringing down glory.

Ephesians 5:19 — “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.”

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