Country Joe McDonald

Acting

Country Joe McDonald

Born — Died

1942-01-01 — 2026-03-07

Place of birth

Washington, DC, USA

Known for

Acting

Credits

19 titles

Joseph Allen "Country Joe" McDonald (January 1, 1942 – March 7, 2026) was an American singer, songwriter, musician and film composer, who was the lead singer and co-founder of the 1960s psychedelic folk-rock group Country Joe and the Fish. He wrote some of the group's most well-known songs, including "Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine" and "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag", the latter a protest song against US involvement in the Vietnam War. After the group's breakup in 1971, McDonald performed as a solo artist and in the spirit of Woody Guthrie, continued to musically espouse his political views through his original songs.

Known for

The Midnight Special poster
8.1

The Midnight Special is an American late-night musical variety series that aired on NBC during the 1970s and early 1980s, created and produced by Burt Sugarman. It premiered as a special on August 19, 1972, then began its run as a regular series on February 2, 1973; its last episode was on May 1, 1981. The ninety-minute program followed the Friday night edition of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. The show typically featured guest hosts, except for a period from July 1975 through March 1976 when singer Helen Reddy served as the regular host. Wolfman Jack served as the announcer and frequent guest host. The series also occasionally aired vintage footage of older acts. As the program neared the end of its run in the early 1980s, it began to frequently use lip-synched performances rather than live. The program also featured occasional comedic performances such as Richard Pryor and Andy Kaufman.

The Midnight Special

1972

Tales of the City poster
7.7

Mary Ann Singleton, a naïve young secretary from the mid-west, tumbles head first into the colorful world of San Francisco, where carefree chaos revolves around the funky old apartment house at 28 Barbary Lane.

Tales of the City

1993

Woodstock poster
7.6

An intimate look at the Woodstock Music & Art Festival held in Bethel, NY in 1969, from preparation through cleanup, with historic access to insiders, blistering concert footage, and portraits of the concertgoers; negative and positive aspects are shown, from drug use by performers to naked fans sliding in the mud, from the collapse of the fences by the unexpected hordes to the surreal arrival of National Guard helicopters with food and medical assistance for the impromptu city of 500,000.

Woodstock

1970

Woodstock: Three Days That Defined a Generation poster
7.3

50 years after the legendary fest, Barak Goodman’s electric retelling of Woodstock, from the point of view of those who were on the ground, evokes the freedom, passion, community, and joy the three-day music festival created.

Woodstock: Three Days That Defined a Generation

2019

More American Graffiti poster
5.2

College graduates deal with Vietnam and other issues of the late '60s.

More American Graffiti

1979

This Ain't No Mouse Music! poster
7.0

Loving, music-filled tribute to Chris Strachwitz, guiding force behind legendary roots music label Arhoolie Records. With Ry Cooder, Clifton Chenier, Richard Thompson, Flaco Jiménez and a new generation of roots musicians.

This Ain't No Mouse Music!

2014

Film credits

2010s · 6 titles

Woodstock: Three Days That Defined a Generation poster
7.3

50 years after the legendary fest, Barak Goodman’s electric retelling of Woodstock, from the point of view of those who were on the ground, evokes the freedom, passion, community, and joy the three-day music festival created.

Woodstock: Three Days That Defined a Generation

2019

This Ain't No Mouse Music! poster
7.0

Loving, music-filled tribute to Chris Strachwitz, guiding force behind legendary roots music label Arhoolie Records. With Ry Cooder, Clifton Chenier, Richard Thompson, Flaco Jiménez and a new generation of roots musicians.

This Ain't No Mouse Music!

2014

Woodstock: Untold Stories Revisited poster
NR

Sixteen performances, which total 73 minutes, of previously unreleased performances from the 1969 Woodstock Festival. This is the follow-up to 2009's Woodstock: Untold Stories Melanie: "Mr. Tambourine Man/Tuning My Guitar" (6:18) Joan Baez: "Oh Happy Day" (3:59) Joan Baez: "I Shall Be Released" (3:38) Santana: "Persuasion" (2:55) Canned Heat: "Woodstock Boogie" (8:38) The Grateful Dead: "Mama Tried" (2:53) The Who: "Sparks" (5:25) The Who: "Pinball Wizard" (2:51) Jefferson Airplane: "Volunteers" (2:53) Jefferson Airplane: "Come Back Baby" (5:56) Country Joe and the Fish: "Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine" (4:23) Crosby, Stills & Nash: "Helplessly Hoping" (2:27) Crosby, Stills & Nash: "Marrakesh Express" (2:55) The Paul Butterfield Blues Band: "Everything's Gonna Be Alright" (8:53) Sha Na Na: "Book of Love" (2:07) Jimi Hendrix: "Spanish Castle Magic" (7:09)

Woodstock: Untold Stories Revisited

2014

What is Classic Rock? poster
NR

How do you define classic rock? Is it a genre, a radio format, or music from a specific period of time? Filmmaker & lifelong rocker Daniel Sarkissian travels the world, interviewing iconic artists in search of an answer.

What is Classic Rock?

2018

Born In Chicago poster
5.7

"Born In Chicago" is a soulful documentary film that chronicles a uniquely musical passing of the torch. It’s the story of first generation blues performers who had made their way to Chicago from the Mississippi Delta and their ardent and unexpected followers – young white, middle class kids who followed this evocative music to smoky clubs deep in Chicago’s ghettos. There, against all odds, they were encouraged by the greats who had became their musical mentors and learned the art of the blues at the feet the masters, going on to make the music their own.

Born In Chicago

2013

Woody Guthrie All-Star Tribute Concert 1970 poster
NR

In 1970, three years following his death from Huntington’s disease, an all-star cast of musicians gathered at Los Angeles, CA’s Hollywood Bowl to pay homage to iconic folk songwriter Woody Guthrie. Although the concert was a one-night-only event , four-time Emmy Award-winner Jim Brown filmed the historic Woody Guthrie All-Star Tribute Concert 1970, which included performances by Arlo Guthrie, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Country Joe McDonald, Odetta, Richie Havens, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Earl Robinson, and The Band, along with narration by actors Will Geer and Peter Fonda.

Woody Guthrie All-Star Tribute Concert 1970

2019

2000s · 2 titles

1970s · 4 titles

1960s · 3 titles

Series credits

The Midnight Special poster
8.1

The Midnight Special is an American late-night musical variety series that aired on NBC during the 1970s and early 1980s, created and produced by Burt Sugarman. It premiered as a special on August 19, 1972, then began its run as a regular series on February 2, 1973; its last episode was on May 1, 1981. The ninety-minute program followed the Friday night edition of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. The show typically featured guest hosts, except for a period from July 1975 through March 1976 when singer Helen Reddy served as the regular host. Wolfman Jack served as the announcer and frequent guest host. The series also occasionally aired vintage footage of older acts. As the program neared the end of its run in the early 1980s, it began to frequently use lip-synched performances rather than live. The program also featured occasional comedic performances such as Richard Pryor and Andy Kaufman.

The Midnight Special

1972

Tales of the City poster
7.7

Mary Ann Singleton, a naïve young secretary from the mid-west, tumbles head first into the colorful world of San Francisco, where carefree chaos revolves around the funky old apartment house at 28 Barbary Lane.

Tales of the City

1993

On the Trail of Easy Rider: 40 Years On... Still Searching for America poster
NR

"A man went looking for America.... And couldn't find it anywhere!" proclaimed the original Easy Rider poster. Four decades later filmmakers Simon Witter and Hannes Rossacher set out to see if they could find America, retracing the film's original route across the country with Easy Rider super fans Jim Leonard and Mike Kittrell, on a quest to find out how the many issues that resonated through the film had developed, for better or worse, in the interim. Along the way they met musicians, journalists, academics, seasteading idealists, drug policy experts and healers, and heard from the film's makers and extras about the dramatic genesis of the cult film that blew like a wind of change through the stilted kitsch of mainstream cinema in 1969, re-writing the rulebook on genre, drugs, music, cinematography and even the use of non-actors, holding a mirror up to the values of a changing America.

On the Trail of Easy Rider: 40 Years On... Still Searching for America

2011