Joe McDonald was raised in the Los Angeles suburb of El Monte, where he grew up surrounded by all manner of political activity and a wide range of music, ranging from R&B to Dixieland jazz.
McDonald had early gigs as a trombonist in jazz outfits and a guitarist in folk groups, but then spent most of the early 1960s serving in the United States Navy.
On returning to civilian life in 1964, McDonald resumed playing music and cut his first album. Soon after, McDonald headed for Berkeley, CA, where he quickly became a part of the growing folk music scene and became involved in politics. After some solo performances he formed two groups, one called the Berkeley String Quartet and the other the Instant Action Jug Band. The latter had a floating membership of as many as a dozen musicians, not all of whom would necessarily appear at every gig.
The jug band's ranks included Barry Melton, a talented guitarist and singer. Out of their contact and the Instant Action Jug Band grew Country Joe & The Fish, initially as a recording alias. Among McDonald's other activities in 1965, he was publishing a radical journal called Rag Baby and managed to combine the two interests by producing independent political records.
Country Joe & The Fish evolved into a rock band which was active between 1966 and 1969, culminating in its appearance at Woodstock.
In the spring following the festival, McDonald embarked on a solo career, returning to his roots with an album of Woody Guthrie songs, and followed it up a year later with the electric blues album Hold On It's Coming. He remained committed to bringing the Vietnam War to an end, participating in demonstrations and appearing on-stage with a satirical anti-military revue.
Over the decades since, McDonald has cut numerous solo albums and performed extensively, as well as revived Rag Baby. He has periodically reunited with other members of the Fish, most recently in the wake of the war in Iraq. He's become almost a mythic figure in agitprop music since the early 1980s, when he resumed his peace-activist work.