He's attained the highest High: Country Joe McDonald Remembered
This past weekend, Country Joe McDonald died at the age of 84. He was the founding member and principal singer and songwriter for Country Joe and the Fish. If you are younger than 50, you probably have no idea who they were. If you are older, you may have forgotten. For those who do remember them, it’s probably for their song, “I-Feel-Like-I’m- Fixin’-to-Die-Rag,” a satirical anti-war song rendered 
as a Looney Tunes ragtime song, from the album of the same name. It was preceded there by “The Fish Cheer” which was soon transformed in their live performances to a more profane word beginning with F. The chant became renowned because of Joe singing it in the Woodstock film. That song was one side of the Fish. The other side was much more lysergic. They were in the vanguard of the psychedelic movement and embraced it wholly with dreamy songs like “Bass Stings”, “Colors for Susan” and the instrumental, “Section 43.” We remember the more melodic, hallucinogenic side of Country Joe McDonald and his music with Country Joe and the Fish tonight on Echoes.
We’ll also hear new music from Ambient Americana band SUSS. I bet they listened to Country Joe in their youths. SUSS returns with a haunting album of deep country flanged moods on the album Counting Sunsets. Swaying pedal steel, back porch folk strumming, and desert washed electric sustains fuel this new release. John Diliberto brings us a couple of tracks on Echoes.