John Sayles will direct Honeydripper, a period musical drama starring Danny Glover, blues guitarist Keb' Mo', R&B icon Ruth Brown, and Gary Clark Jr., a Texas blues guitarist.

Keb' Mo'

Set in 1950s Alabama, Sayles' original script centers on Tyrone (Glover), owner of the Honeydripper juke joint. When business begins to drop off, against his better judgment, Tyrone hires Sonny (Clark), a young electric guitarist, in a last-ditch effort to draw crowds during harvest time.

"It's about that Bo Diddley moment, when music moves from the blues to rock and roll," said Maggie Renzi, Sayles' longtime producing partner. "John would say he likes to make movies on subjects he doesn't already know, and he knows there's lots of room to explore here."

Keb' Mo' plays Possum, a ghostly spirit of the blues who haunts Tyrone. Brown, one of the biggest R&B stars of the 1950s, has been cast as Bertha May, who sings the blues the last night in the club and her last night on earth.

The movie is adapted from a short story Sayles wrote in Dillinger in Hollywood: New and Selected Short Stories, an anthology published in 2004.

The indie project, budgeted at under $10 million, is scheduled to go before cameras in mid-October in Alabama.

Sayles last directed the 2004 political satire Silver City.