In 1969, when this first solo album from Joe McDonald was issued, knowledge of Woody Guthrie was variable with few being able to appreciate his importance within American music. Country Joe was one of the first to issue a body of work that underlined clearly that Woody should have a place of honour within musical history. During the preceding few years, while working as the leader of the Fish, Joe had on occasion let his country roots show musically, so the choice to cut country songs was one obvious option. Joe's father had grown up in Sallisaw, a small Oklahoma town some hundred miles from Woody Guthrie's own birthplace. There were distinct parallels between Joe's father's life and Woody's, which added to the feeling that Joe had developed for the songs that he had been aware of since listening to them on 78 rpm records in his childhood.