Country Joe McDonald, Frontman of Country Joe & The Fish and ‘Tales of the City’ Actor, Passes Away at 84
Country Joe McDonald, the influential anti-war psychedelic folk artist and co-founder of the band Country Joe & The Fish, has passed away at the age of 84. His death was reported by TMZ, although the cause and additional details remain unclear.
Born on January 1, 1942, in Washington, D.C., McDonald grew up in a politically charged environment, as his parents were Communists who once named him after Joseph Stalin before renouncing their ideology. The family later moved to El Monte, California, where McDonald led his high school marching band before joining the Navy, where he spent three years stationed in Japan.
In the 1960s, McDonald relocated to Berkeley with his first wife, Kathe Werrum, to pursue his career as a folk musician. During this time, he became actively involved in the Free Speech Movement and protests against the Vietnam War.
McDonald launched the San Francisco-based folk music magazine Rag Baby, which inspired him to form a band with Barry ‘The Fish’ Melton. Their collaboration resulted in Country Joe & The Fish’s debut in October 1965 with the Rag Baby Talking Issue No. 1 and their renowned protest song “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin-to-Die Rag.” The band signed with Vanguard Records the following year and released their first album, Electric Music for the Mind and Body, in 1967.
The band gained notoriety for their performances at pivotal events such as Woodstock, the first Human Be-In during the Summer of Love, and the Mobilization to End the War in Vietnam. They disbanded after their fifth album, CJ Fish, in 1970, though they reunited to release an album titled Reunion in 1977.
McDonald continued to record solo albums, with his last, 50, released in 2017. He also contributed to the upcoming collaborative album Bear’s Sonic Journals: Sing Out! set to debut in 2024. In the 1980s, he established Rag Baby Records with Bill Belmont, where he released his own music.
In addition to his music career, McDonald ventured into acting, starring alongside Bud Cort in Gas-s-s-s-s (1970), appearing in the 1971 Don Johnson film Zachariah, and playing himself in More American Graffiti (1979). He also portrayed Joaquin in the 1993 limited series adaptation of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City.
McDonald is survived by his wife Kathy Wright, his children Devin, Seven, Tara, Emily, and Ryan, as well as several grandchildren.
