Helmer Darnell Martin makes music with the percolating and scintillating ’50s biopic Cadillac Records mostly because of the rich, righteous and mythic sensibility out of the story of Leonard Chess, Muddy Waters and the birth of the Chicago blues.

For those unfamiliar with the story of Chess Records, the main crux is between Leonard Chess,played by Adrien Brody, and Muddy Waters, brilliantly played by Jeffrey Wright. The duo’s relationship provides the back story to the legacy of the Chicago record label. This is the second film dealing with the same artists, yet Cadillac Records takes a far broader approach than Jerry Saks Who Do You Love.

Brody does a bang-up job as the man who founded Chess Records and compliments Wright’s simmering dignity and eloquent performance. Martin does a great job of establishing the foundation of what blues meant to those all across the U.S. during the 1950s. The cast was well-assembled and did a great job of blending up into their roles. Columbus Short (Stomp The Yard) becomes Little Walter – the only Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Famer to be inducted for his work as a harmonica player.

But it’s with the story that things get convoluted. Chess and Waters relationship becomes strained the more money gets involved the more successful Chess Records becomes. New additions such as Chester “Howlin’ Wolf” Burnett – powerfully played by Eamonn Walker, Chuck Berry (Mos Def) and Etta James (Beyonce Knowles) make-up the blueprint of black music that Motown and more recent labels like Roc-A-Fella get their inspiration from.

With all these players, the star is Jeffrey Wright. His portrayal of Muddy Waters from sharecropper to superstar details the ups and downs of everything going around him. Weighty emotions for his labelmates and his bad financial habits find him needing support from Leonard Chess and leaves Waters in a vulnerable place. Furthermore, his competition with rival Howlin’ Wolf played a subtle part in developing not only the sound, but the movement of Chess Records.Walker makes you believe that he was a fierce blues competitor and their clash had the makings of an on-wax rap battle.

But still trying to find her voice in all of this was Beyonce Knowles. Whereas Mos Def and Jeffrey Wright modified their voices to fit their roles, Knowles’ ability to mimic the great Etta James is just not there. Simply put, it’s Beyonce singing Etta James – which does not bode well for Ms. Knowles.

On the very basic level, this is a solid story. Most of the details are right-on in Cadillac Records, although Martin’s approach sometime blurs the lines of realism and fan-worshipping. With unforgettable performances, plenty of bottoms should be in the seats groovin’ to the blues on this one.

Eamonn Walker’s name might not be too familiar here in the United States where he doesn’t have years of appearing on stage under his belt, but if you’re a long-time subscriber to HBO, it’ll be hard to forget him playing Kareem Said for all six seasons of Tom Fontana’s prison drama “Oz.”

Although Walker has been a regular presence on television (and stage) since that show went off the air, his film appearances have been few and far between, which is why one might not recognize him when he first appears on screen in his latest movie, Cadillac Records, which reunites him with former “Oz” director Darnell Martin. The movie’s a look at the early days of recorded blues at Chess Records, and Walker gives an amazing performance as legendary blues singer Howlin’ Wolf. The movie also stars Adrien Brody as Leonard Chess, the label’s co-founder, Jeffrey Wright as Muddy Waters, and Beyoncé Knowles as singer Etta James.

ComingSoon.net had a chance to sit down with Walker to talk about what went into playing the role of Howlin’ Wolf, as well as to learn a bit about his new NBC show “Kings” which starts airing next year.

CS: When you first appeared in the studio performing it really took me a second to realize it was you, even though I’ve seen every episode of “Oz” a number of times.
Eamonn Walker: You didn’t recognize me.

CS: I don’t know if it was the just the beard or just the situation, and I was really curious, do you have any kind of musical background whatsoever?
Walker: I’m a frustrated musician, I would go there. I sing in the bath, I’ve done the odd piece of singing here and there, but nothing what I would turn around and call myself a singer. I knew for this that I would have to step up, and really kind of dig in and find my voice.

CS: Did you just happen to find the script or your agent?
Walker: You may not know, but Darnell directed the pilot and the first two episodes of “Oz” so that’s where we met. My first big meeting at HBO was with Darnell Martin and twenty seven HBO executives, and I had to come in and read, and I read with her and we clicked straight away. It was a really amazing reading, because she’s a pretty good actress herself although nobody knows that. That’s how that came about and then all these years later, when she said she had some quite specific ideas in her head. I guess what popped up was working with me ’cause I can do intense I guess and she wanted this character to have an intensity about him as regards to the specific subject matter between he and Muddy Waters. If you watch this movie, you could take away from it that their whole relationship was this slice that you get, but it wasn’t, they played together, they loved each other, they respected each other on one level. It was like they became really great friends, and Willie Dixon, they all played together, all of them.

CS: Oh yeah, of course. It’s funny because he toured in the U.K. a lot, and I don’t know how old you are, but were you aware of him being there and playing with Clapton and others?
Walker: I’m in my 40s and no, I wasn’t aware of him at all. I mean my – I call him my surrogate father, John, because I adopted him and said, “I like listening to you.” Anyway, he was a big fan of Howlin’ Wolf, and so, I told him I was doing this film and I’m still apprehensive as to his reaction, because that was a criteria that I held high in my mind’s eye. Any of the music that I listen to or the kind of broader eclectic kind of thing came from him. That’s why I’m saying I was working in the Hope & Anchor with punk and all of that stuff. It’s because of that band my music is quite wide that I listen to. So, me playing this role and him being a huge Howlin’ Wolf fan specifically, and he really spoke about it. I was like, “Oh my God, I really don’t know what to do,” because there’s one person I cannot let down, it’s John.

To read more of this interesting interview with Eamonn Walker, please click here.