Bonnie Raitt -vocals, guitar; John Hall - guitar, vocals; Will McFarlane - guitar, vocals; Freebo - bass, percussion, vocals; Bill Payne - piano, vocals; Dennis Whitted - drums, percussion; Rosemary Butler - vocals
Following the March 1979 meltdown at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island nuclear reactor (the worst accident in United States nuclear power plant history), Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt, Harvey Wasserman and John Hall joined forces to found the activist group Musicians United for Safe Energy. Raising awareness of safe energy alternatives and advocating against the use of nuclear energy, MUSE would stage a monumental week-long series of concerts at New York City's Madison Square Garden, in addition to a massive public rally held in Battery Park, attended by nearly 200,000.
These September 1979 events, staged as MUSE Concerts for a Non-Nuclear Future - commonly referred to as the No Nukes Concerts, would present a stellar roster of diverse performers, many collaborating for the first time. The core collective of Browne, Raitt, Nash and Hall would be joined on stage by many of their like-minded friends, including James Taylor, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Chaka Khan, The Doobie Brothers, Jesse Colin Young, Peter Tosh, Gil Scott-Heron, Peter Allen, Sweet Honey In The Rock, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Ry Cooder and Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, in addition to unscheduled appearances by Carly Simon, Phoebe Snow, Stephen Bishop and Paul Simon.
A triple live album and theatrical film, titled No Nukes: The MUSE Concerts For a Non-Nuclear Future, would document this series of events. Thanks in large part to the album including the very first official release of Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band live on stage (in the form of "Detroit Medley," which received considerable FM radio play), the No Nukes album would be certified gold within the year. Until now, the album and film were the only means of experiencing the MUSE concerts. For the first time ever, listeners can now enjoy these legendary live performances and rare collaborations unedited, exactly as they occurred decades ago.
Written by Alan Bershaw