CORVALLIS, Ore. – “An Evening with Country Joe McDonald: Reflections on the Summer of Love and Woody Guthrie,” a performance and question-and-answer session with singer-songwriter Country Joe McDonald, will be held at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 15 at the Majestic Theatre in Corvallis.

McDonald’s appearance is part of the Oregon State University College of Liberal Arts’ “American Strings Series,” which celebrates America’s longstanding love for stringed instruments and roots music. The series was created by OSU’s director of performing arts, journalist and music historian Bob Santelli.

With 36 albums published and more than four decades as a touring folk singer, McDonald is one of the best-known Woodstock artists still performing today.

Appearing with his band as “Country Joe and the Fish,” McDonald performed at the Monterey Pop Festival in the “Summer of Love,” in 1967. Two years later, he launched his solo career at Woodstock. At Woodstock he played a 30-minute set that included the “Fish Cheer” and the satirical anti-Vietnam War song, “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag,” with the familiar chorus, “One, two, three, what are fighting for?” These became famous auditory icons of the historic music festival and anthems for Vietnam veterans and anti-war protesters of the 1960’s and 1970’s.

Throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s McDonald, a veteran himself, toured and released numerous recordings and began actively working with and for Vietnam Veterans Against the War and other causes to support and promote awareness of the thousands of U.S. veterans he felt had been disenfranchised and neglected after returning from active duty.

McDonald has continued to write and record and toured regularly in the U.S. and abroad into the new millennium. After some unsuccessful attempts at reuniting the original Country Joe and the Fish band, he formed the Country Joe Band with original members David Bennett Cohen, Bruce Barthol and Gary “Chicken” Hirsh. The group toured throughout 2004 and 2005. In 2007 he perfected his “Tribute to Woody Guthrie” show, a mix of music and spoken word, and has since taken it around the country.

Tickets are $15 in advance or $20 at the door. OSU students will be admitted for free, one ticket per student with ID, while seats last. For additional information about the series or to purchase tickets, visit: http://liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/american-strings-series.

The Majestic Theatre is located at 115 S.W. 2nd St., Corvallis. The show is sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and the School of Arts and Communication at OSU.

Story By: 

Erin Sneller, 541-737-5592

Source: 

Bob Santelli, 541-737-1797, [email protected]

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