A mildly entertaining story of a club owner who nurtured a stable of black artists and made them stars in the 1950s, Who Do You Love presents an intimate look into the lives of Leonard and Phil Chess, legendary founders of Chess Records.

Starring Alessandro Nivola (The Eye), Jon Abrahams and Chi McBride as bassist Willie Dixon, it chronicles the rise and fall of the music powerhouse that brought to prominence such stars as Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley and Etta James and presents a poignant look into the strain the label placed on the Chess family.

Named after a Bo Diddley song and directed by Jerry Zaks, it’s the second of two recent biopics that focus on the music label. While the movie Cadillac Records focused more on the label’s musicians, Who Do You Love profiles the brothers’ meteoric rise from Illinois junkyard operators to record producers.

A rousing tale packed with colorfully flawed characters, Nivola and Abrahams play the brothers Leonard and Phil. Both become enamored with the new blues sound emanating from the city and open a club called Macomba with the help of a black bass player and songwriter Willie Dixon, who becomes Leonard’s guide and advisor. After initial failure, they find tremendous success with the iconic bluesman Muddy Waters and on the strength of his popularity start Chess Records, which quickly grows into an influential label, launching the careers of Waters, Diddley and Chuck Berry.

The movie, which begins by looking through the eyes of a young Leonard in the family-owned junkyard, also stars British actor David Oyelowo (The Last King of Scotland) as Waters, the label’s most prolific musician. Oyelowo, who bears an incredibly strong resemblance to the late musician, worked with a dialect coach to nail the Southern sound and also learned to play guitar. McBride, probably the most recognizable of the cast with roles in I, Robot and First Sunday, commands the screen with a quiet serenity and depth that makes this more than just another bogus biopic.

A snapshot of the era in which the music that was to become the foundation of rock ’n’ roll was created. Who Do You Love does justice to a remarkable label that was a pivotal force in introducing electric Chicago-style blues to a much broader audience.