There’s no way to overstate the importance of Chess Records to modern music. The Chess brothers, Polish immigrants, began recording blues musicians after seeing that they weren’t getting the proper attention. One of their first artists was the incomparable Muddy Waters; over time their stable would include Howlin’ Wolf, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. Sam Phillips’ Sun Records gets a lot of attention, but for my money there would be no rock n’ roll without Chess Records.
Matt Dillon is going to be starring in a film about the Chess Brothers, and now the film has its Muddy Waters: Jeffrey Wright will be playing the famous bluesman who helped launch the label. The movie is called Cadillac Records, after the way that the Chess Brothers sold their albums out of the trunk of their Caddy. I’m psyched to see Wright on board, since he’s a very talented actor who totally owes me one for The Invasion. He owes us all one.
More info on Cadillac Records as it arises, since this is a movie I’m really interested in.