Darnell Martin’s dramatisation of the rise of legendary blues label Chess Records steps back in time to the 1940s, when guitar man Muddy Waters (Jeffrey Wright) abandons the fields of Mississippi to chase his dreams of stardom.

Supposed to be the story of the Chicago record company, Chess Records, of the l950s that had on its books such classic Blues singers as Muddy Watters (Wright), Chuck Berry and Etta James (Knowles).