Bonnie Raitt and Indigo Girls join Minnesota activists in new Line 3 protest song

If an A-team of Native American women activists and Twin Cities music mainstays Larry Long and Rock the Cause aren't enough to bring attention to the Stop Line 3 protests in Minnesota on Earth Day, then how about a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and another Grammy-winning veteran rock act?

Bonnie Raitt and the Indigo Girls each contributed vocals to a new single released Thursday to raise money and awareness for Stop Line 3 causes. Titled "No More Pipeline Blues (On This Land Where We Belong)," the song and video were posted online for Earth Day via the Indigenous environmental justice organization Honor the Earth and St. Paul's nonprofit record label Rock the Cause.

Rolling Stone premiered "No More Pipeline Blues" with a video and short documentary that spotlight the reasons behind it. Twin Cities folk musician and educator Larry Long wrote the lyrics and produced the music, recruiting a cavalcade of environmental activists along the way that includes Winona LaDuke, Waubanewquay, the Day Sisters, Mumu Fresh, Pura Fe, Soni Moreno, Jennifer Kreisberg and even U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo.

Line 3 is a 1,000-mile pipeline (about 330 in northern Minnesota) planned by Canadian company Enbridge that would carry tar-sand oil across the Mississippi River and Ojibwe reservation land between Clearbrook and Superior, Wis. Construction began in December.

The music video for "No More Pipeline Blues" shows protests and clearing activity near Cloquet and other construction sites, which proponents say is bringing much-needed jobs to the region. The lyrics make it clear why environmentalists oppose the pipeline.

Indigo Girls Amy Ray and Emily Saliers' verses include, "One million of barrels a day to come through these sacred lands / On this land to which we belong with oil thicker than crude / 4,000 workers coming our way / Got them pandemic pipeline blues."

Raitt sings, "On this land where we belong / With pipelines that corrode / When they break it'll be too late / It'll kill this river road."

Both Raitt and the Indigos are longtime supporters of Honor the Earth, which was founded in Minneapolis in 1993 by one-time Green Party vice-presidential candidate LaDuke. Serving as the go-between to streaming sites and other music platforms, Rock the Cause is the St. Paul-based nonprofit that also issued late Stillwater area teen Zach Sobiech's chart-topping single "Clouds," which has helped raised more than $2.5 million for children's cancer research.

"No More Pipeline Blues" is available for streaming or download via most platforms including Spotify, Bandcamp, iTunes/Apple Music and YouTube.

Chris Riemenschneider • 612-673-4658

@ChrisRstrib