With the Sox back in the playoff picture, mind beards and all, sick Nate Thompson sat down with one of the organization’s unsung heroes; Fenway’s resident organist, diagnosis Josh Kantor. Librarian at Harvard by day, and ivory tickler by night, Josh brings us into one of the most unique collectives of musicians, and offers a different perspective on the state of the music industry today.

NT: So when you started this job, were you already a sports fan, or a Red Sox fan, or was this just something you fell into because of your musical background?

JK: By that time, I had become a huge Red Sox fan. I moved to Boston when I was 17, went to Fenway, fell in love immediately.

NT: Talk to me a little bit about your beginnings as an organist.

JK: I guess in the 50s and 60s, you know, many homes had organs in the living room. Then, probably, I don’t know, when teenagers started playing the electric guitar, it kind of became the end for the organ as the home instrument. So, I started taking piano lessons when I was very young, maybe four or five. Then in high school and college, I played in a few rock bands, that were mostly lousy, and a lot of, like, orchestra pits for musical theater production, and sort of dabbled in organ. Probably around the time I was 20 or 21, I got serious about playing the organ and learning the nuances about it.

NT: In our earlier conversation, you’d talked having a mentor, the lady from the White Sox. Is there a community of sports organist or baseball organists?

JK: A little bit. I wouldn’t say there is a real strong community. But Nancy Foust, she started with the White Sox in 1970, she was there for 41 years. She was the first one that I started paying attention to and fell in love with her style. She was always so approachable that she always gave me a lot of tips and advice… I think she was happy to pass it along to another generation. But I’ve met a handful of major league organists… We communicate mostly on Facebook and Twitter. It’s not the most traditional music gig, so it’s tough to solicit the kinds of advice for doing this sort of gig well…I’ve become friendly with a couple of the hockey organists. They have a fantasy hockey league, and talk trash with each other.

NT: Who is the coolest person you met in this gig?

JK: I don’t know if I can say a single coolest, but through this, I did meet the guys from REM, and they even asked me to play on some of their side projects. And then, of course, they have been, you know, actively touring for 20 plus years… Just by spending time with them and playing with them, you end up meeting all of these other cool musicians that you’ve wanted to meet for a long time… Those guys are at the center for me for being able to meet a lot of different groups. But then also I’ve also been a little bit here and there playing with this new, young punk group from Brooklyn called So So Glos.

NT: Talk to me a little bit about your projects outside of Fenway.

JK: There’s three bands that I play with more regularly. One is a band here in Boston called Jim’s Big Ego. They’ve been around for 15 years, I’ve been with them for about five years. I was a fan of theirs for a while, so when they invited me to join, that was very exciting. We’ve done some recording and some playing, mostly locally, but occasionally we tour out around the northeast. Then there’s a band called The Baseball Project, which, it’s songs mostly about baseball. I think my baseball connection gave me an in for that one. That’s the one that the REM guys have been involved in, so that’s how I got involved, playing some keys during live shows, and I knew one of the guys in the band. It’s been fun, and they keep inviting me back. And I also play with this group called Split Squad. We just came out with our first CD, which we recorded in Waltham at Wooly Mammoth… Clem Burke, the drummer from Blondie, is in the group, who is one of my favorite drummers ever, so to get to play with him is a dream come true.

NT: Who has been your favorite Red Sox player in your tenure?

JK: Pedro for the pitchers, and Ortiz for the hitters. Both of them are just a combination of, like, amazing talent, like I can’t believe I get to watch these guys play every day, and combined with great personalities and great flare for the dramatic. Great warmth and joy that they exude and are all too happy to share.

NT: I feel like you’re in a unique position in the music industry where you’re not solely relying on music for your income, but you’re involved professionally and as a hobby, and you know a lot of people. What are your thoughts on local musicians getting a start in the industry?

JK: When I first started this job, I didn’t think of myself as a working musician. I hadn’t done a lot of performing and recording. I was more the librarian that has a hobby. Then the more you do it, you do it a few hundred times, and you start to think like, I mean, I guess if I’m good enough to play in front of 38,000 people that are half-paying-attention, maybe I can play in front of 100- people that are paying attention, so I started trying to book club gigs. And I’ve always gone to shows and tried to talk to as many people as I can. I don’t know if it’s because I’m getting older and it’s among my peer group, or what, but I feel like going out to shows isn’t as popular as it used to be. Maybe it’s because everyone has Netflix now, like, “Sure, I’d love to go, but this stuff in my queue isn’t going to watch itself.” So I think that that’s a little discouraging. And also I think that music is being consumed at high rates, but I don’t think most people are paying for recorded music, or CDs, and most people aren’t paying for their downloads. I’ve tried to be as supportive of the economics of that as best I can. Music is so ubiquitous, and it’s all around us, it’s in cars, it’s on phones, but I think the abundance of it has devalued it in a way… There’s something about the internet age where it’s a lot less common for people to sit down and listen to a whole record in one sitting and absorb it. I guess I’m just old enough to remember when that was all I did, and I try to do it still when I have the time. So how does this answer your question? I guess if I were in charge, if my tastes and interests were mainstream, I guess people would be going out to see bands all the time, and listening to full albums all the time, and that’s something that seems to be dissipating. And people would love old-timey ballpark music too… I guess I think there are more good bands now than there ever were. Though there are probably more bad bands now than there ever were. I guess the trick is the discovery of it, like finding the band and going to see them, and following their trajectory from their first album. That’s a very exciting and rewarding thing.

NT: My cynical self thinks that illegally downloading music and freely sharing it is the only way for a lot of these bands to even have a shot. So it’s a huge catch-22

JK: Yeah, and at the same time, though, if no one is going to buy your record, it does impact the quality, or the quality of the next record, like, for the way I would want to record a record and the way that I want it to sound,  maybe I need to budget X amount of money. But no one bought my last record, so now I don’t have that money to do that. Whether it’s production value, or maybe I won’t be able to have the violin on that song that really needs a violin on it. And not to say that music can’t be done cheaply or for next to nothing. A lot of people are recording good music in their bed rooms that sounds awesome for zero dollars, and maybe it’s better than it would be if it had any production. But maybe my songs aren’t as good as they could be because I’m at work 40 hours a week and I need to pay the bills and that cuts into the time I’d develop my craft and develop these songs that I’m waiting to record. So I guess that’s one way that the economic impact of records not being bought are trickling down to where it might negatively impact on an artist from making the best art they could.

NT: You got me there. What was the interview process like for getting your job?

JK: At the time, I knew a guy working for the Red Sox, he recommended me to the people overseeing the auditions. I came in and there was an audition process, and they sort of put me through the paces. They tested me on my knowledge of pop songs, like they’d say a popular band or song or genre, and just said, “Play something.” They wanted to know how quickly I could come up with little fan fares or rallying cries. Or, like, what songs I would play in certain situations. Like, “What do you play when a coach goes out to the mound and there are runners on base and it’s a close game?” And I’d say, “Well if it’s the home team that’s pitching, I don’t want to razz the, but if it’s the visiting team, I might throw in a light barb, something maybe the audience would recognize, maybe where they would say, ‘Oh the organist made a clever commentary about the situation.’” I came back in for a second audition, and that one I thought I nailed it.