Country Joe McDonald was born on January 1, 1942, in Washington, DC. When they were young, his parents were both members of the Communist Party and they actually named Country Joe McDonald for Josef Stalin. They later renounced Communism. Country Joe McDonald grew up in in El Monte, California. He was a trombonist in his high school band and was good enough that he actually led the band. He taught himself blues, country, folk, and rock songs on the guitar, and started writing songs when he was still a teen. He was 17 years old when he enlisted in the United States Navy.
Following his service in the Navy, Country Joe McDonald attended Los Angeles State College for a year before moving to Berkeley to pursue a career as a folk musician. It as in 1965 that he and singer/guitarist Barry "the Fish" Melton formed Country Joe and the Fish. Bruce Barthol on bass, David Bennett Cohen on organ, and Gary “Chicken” Hirsh on drums later joined the group. The name came from two sources. Joe McDonald was called "Country Joe" because magazine publisher Eugene “ED” Denson had heard that Josef Stalin was called "Country Joe"during the Second World War. The "fish," which Barry Melton adopted as his own, also came from Eugene Denson, who drew upon a quote from Mao Zedong that revolutionaries are “the fish who swim in the sea of the people.”
Like other folk groups of the era, Country Joe McDonald and the Fish evolved from an acoustic folk sound to an electric folk rock sound. They moved from Berkeley to San Francisco where they met with success. They self-released their first EP, Talking Issue No. 1: Songs of Opposition in 1965. It was followed by another, self-titled EP in 1966. It was in December 1966 that Country Joe and the Fish signed with Vanguard Records. Their first album,, Electric Music for the Mind and Body, was released in February 1967. It featured their debut single, "Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine." The album performed relatively well, reaching no. 39 on the Billboard album chart.
While Country Joe and the Fish's singles did not do particularly well, their albums did. I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die (1967) went to no. 67 on the Billboard album chart. Together (1968) went to no. 23. Here We Go Again (1969) peaked at no. 48. Their album CJ Fish (1970) faltered at only no. 111 on the chart. Through it all Country Joe and the Fish found themselves banned by the television networks due to the notorious "Fish Cheer (which was changed to spell another four letter word starting with "F" besides "fish")." They also saw a few changes in their lineup, Of course, it was also during this period that Country Joe and the Fish appeared at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, at which they were scheduled at the last minute. Their performance was preserved in the documentary Woodstock (1970), guaranteeing their immortality.
Country Joe and the Fish disbanded in 1970. The 1967 lineup of the group reunited and recorded the 1977 album Reunion. Afterwards the group would reunited from time to time, calling themselves "the Country Joe Band" when Barry "the Fish" Melton was not part of the lineup.
Country Joe McDonald had begun his solo career before Country Joe and the Fish had disbanded in 1970. His first solo album, Thinking of Woody Guthrie, was released in 1969. As a solo artist, he released around twenty studio albums from 1969 to 2017. He also composed songs for the movies Quiet Days in Clichy (1970) and Qué Hacer (1972). It was in the 1980s that he and Bill Belmonst re-launched Rag Baby Records, the label under which Country Joe and the Fish released their original EPs. In addition to Country Joe's solo work, they also released albums by such artists as David Bennett Cohen, Joady Guthrie, Rocky Sullivan, and others.
Country Joe McDonald also appeared as an actor in the movies ¡Qué hacer! (1970), Gas-s-s-s! -Or- It Became Necessary to Destroy the World in Order to Save It (1970), and Zachariah (1971). He and the other members of Country Joe and the Fish appeared in More American Graffiti (1979). He appeared in the TV series Tales of the City.
Country Joe McDnoald was committed to veterans of the Vietnam War, as well as the Peace Movement. He helped organize the building of the Vietnam War Memorial in Berkeley and he helped in establish the memorial San Francisco as well. He played benefits for both Sword to Plowshares and Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
Country Joe McDonald was an incredible talent and extremely versatile as a songwriter. He could write everything from protest songs with deadpan humour such as his most famous work, "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag" to ballads such as "Janis" to the blues-infused "Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine." While he would always be linked to the late Sixties and the Vietnam War, Country Joe McDonald made lasting contributions to folk and rock music.
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