Carmichael is guitar man behind play based on works of singer-songwriter Mitchell

Joni Mitchell: River, opening Friday at Bauer Theatre in Antigonish, has a cast of three - or 13 depending on how you look at it.

The Festival Antigonish production, which explores love through 29 songs by the Canadian singing-songwriting legend, stars Raquel Duffy, Margot Sampson and Mark Uhre.

Music director Dave Carmichael will play 10 different guitars - each with its own personality and nickname given by the stage crew.

There's Hekyll and Jekyll, two Norman B18 guitars - identical except one has a wood "birthmark" and Taka, a Takamine guitar, used in the performance of Carey and All I Want, for instance.

"This show is all acoustic," said Carmichael, who is making his Festival Antigonish debut in River, which runs in repertory to Aug. 19.

"The Takamine is usually plugged in. It has a very trebly, high sound, like a dulcimer, so I'm using it as a pseudo dulcimer. In terms of the tunings - there are 13 in the show - it's the hardest to wrap my head around. It's tuned DADDAA.

"Joni really messes with the equation with her tunings. She's said she'll be outside tuning a string to the rustling of a tree, a bird singing, a dog barking and it could be true. The tunings are weird. But once you know how to play the songs, you find things easier to grab."

Though Carmichael, who has earned three ECMA nominations is often thought of as a singer-songwriter, he's no stranger to the stage, having graduated from Acadia University with a theatre degree in the early '90s.

He also spent two years with Windsor's Mermaid Theatre, as a puppeteer and musician for seven shows, starred in Death the Musical at Neptune, and worked with Barnacle Theatre in Wolfville.

He's excited to play in the very intimate Bauer Theatre with "three great singers."

"They're not trying to be Joni Mitchell," he notes of the actors, who are also joined by Juno Award-winning musician/composer Dave Christiansen, who plays piano, flute, clarinet and percussion in the Jean Morpurgo-directed musical.

Carmichael says his role is to learn the tunings. But playing so many guitars is more of a challenge than he expected.

"Every guitar has its own guitar-ality," he says coining a word to describe sounds and feel that are unique to each instrument.

"Take a 1967 Gibson J-45. It's a famous guitar that John Lennon had. You might have an idea in your head of how it would sound, but you don't know until you have a couple of conversations, a night together, how it will actually sound. The more you get to know the instrument, the more it will reveal."

The Gibson J-45 came from Bill Fraser, who Carmichael met by the appetizers at a Festival Antigonish meet and greet. Carmichael's jaw dropped when he heard the model Fraser had and he thought he'd feature it as the main guitar in the show.

"But when I got it it was in really bad shape. It had been neglected and the bridge was lifting. But I didn't want to give up on it and sent it to a local luthier - Campbell Calder - and he fixed it, but that time most of the guitars had been cast.

"I thought I knew where Gabby (the Gibson) would fit. I thought it would be perfect for Magdalene Laundries, a very heavy song about the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland (the subject of the critically acclaimed movie the Magdalene Sisters). But the J-45 was too sweet sounding so I used it on A Case of You."

Carmichael, who has been learning Mitchell songs since February, marvels at the number of guitars that have been donated for the show, which was created by Allen MacInnis and Greg Lowe.

"Antigonish has a fantastic community. The theatre put an ad out asking for guitars and so many people responded with offers it was cool."

The guitars include: the Gibson; a Larivee, donated by Doug Sampson of Bedford MusicStop nicknamed Larry which is the main guitar Carmichael uses in the show; a Fender F65 (Freddy) from Maureen Shebib; a Fender CG7 Classical (Daisy) from Scott MacDonald; the Normans from Blue C Music, an Antigonish store owned by Carson Roulston; a handmade guitar by Calder nicknamed Collie; Patsy Boudreau's Mann A303 B (Mr. Mann); Ryan MacIntyre's Tanglewood (Ryan) and Carmichael's own Taka.

He has never seen the multiple Grammy-winning artist Mitchell, who was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1997, perform live but spent the winter immersing himself in Mitchell biographies including Shadows and Lights which he picks as his favourite both as a book and as a movie.

Carmichael's been a fan since he heard Mitchell's music on the radio growing up in Montreal. Help Me and Coyote stick in his mind as his earliest Mitchell memories.

"She's such an innovator, musically and lyrically. Every song is like a play in itself. I'm fascinated by how Jean handles 29 plays within a play.

"And as a fan, I've always loved Joni's balls. She never, ever compromised her artistic integrity, even when there was a backlash from her fanbase. She wasn't trying to find her place in the market, but was intrinsically true to herself.

"I find that inspiring."

Carmichael found himself musing about Mitchell while he performed at the recent Stan Rogers Folk Festival in Canso.

"The first workshop I did was with (Texas singer-songwriter) Eliza Gilkyson. I'll never be the same. She's amazing artistically. She's like a Joni, very experimental and uses cool tunings."

While he was sitting in the Green Room between acts in Canso, fellow musicians kept coming by to ask about his new album, recorded at Common Ground (formerly Solar Audio) in Halifax.

As yet untitled, the disc, his third independently released album, is expected to be out in September.

Tickets for Joni Mitchell: River are $20. Call 1-800-563-PLAY (7529).