Country Joe McDonald, Woodstock Performer and Anti-War Folk Icon, Dies at 84

Country Joe McDonald, the anti-war folk musician who co-founded the psychedelic rock band Country Joe & The Fish and performed at Woodstock, died Saturday evening, according to reports. He was 84.

The cause of death was not immediately disclosed, according to TMZ.

Born January 1, 1942, in Washington, D.C., McDonald grew up in a politically active household. His parents were Communists who named him after Joseph Stalin, though they later renounced the ideology, according to reports. The family relocated to El Monte, California, where McDonald spent his youth and conducted his high school marching band before enlisting in the Navy for three years of service in Japan.

In the 1960s, McDonald moved to Berkeley with his first wife, Kathe Werrum, to pursue folk music. There, he became deeply involved with the Free Speech Movement and anti-Vietnam War protests that defined the era.

McDonald’s musical career took shape when he launched the San Francisco-based folk music magazine Rag Baby. This venture inspired him to start a band with Barry “The Fish” Melton, leading to Country Joe & The Fish’s debut on the Rag Baby Talking Issue No. 1 in October 1965. The recording featured their signature protest song “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin-to-Die Rag,” which became an anthem of the anti-war movement.

Vanguard Records signed the band in 1966, and they released their debut album “Electric Music for the Mind and Body” in 1967. The group performed at some of the most significant cultural events of the 1960s, including Woodstock, the first Human Be-In during the Summer of Love, and the Mobilization to End the War in Vietnam.

Country Joe & The Fish disbanded after releasing their fifth album “CJ Fish” in 1970, though they reunited for a “Reunion” album in 1977.

McDonald maintained an active solo career, continuing to record albums through “50” in 2017. His most recent work appeared on the 2024 collaborative album “Bear’s Sonic Journals: Sing Out!” In the 1980s, he launched Rag Baby Records with Bill Belmont, using the label to release his own music.

Beyond music, McDonald pursued acting opportunities. He starred alongside Bud Cort in “Gas-s-s-s-s” (1970), appeared in the 1971 Don Johnson film “Zachariah,” and played himself with Country Joe & The Fish in “More American Graffiti” (1979). In 1993, he took on the role of Joaquin in the limited series adaptation of Armistead Maupin’s “Tales of the City.”

McDonald’s influence extended beyond entertainment into activism, as his music provided a soundtrack for the counterculture movement and anti-war protests that shaped American politics in the late 1960s and early 1970s. His band’s performances at pivotal events like Woodstock helped cement their place in music history.

McDonald is survived by his wife Kathy Wright, his children Devin, Seven, Tara, Emily and Ryan, and multiple grandchildren.

The musician’s death marks the end of an era for those who lived through the tumultuous social and political changes of the 1960s, when folk and rock music served as vehicles for protest and social commentary. McDonald’s legacy lives on through his recordings and his role in one of the most significant cultural movements in American history.