Brooklyn-via-Ohio quintet The National have been peddling their slow-burning, epically emotional brand of indie-rock to growing acclaim for the last decade.

When he traded a Johnson 9.9 outboard motor for a beat up Gibson 12 string back in 1979, Charlie Parr unknowingly and unofficially began a career as a world-class practitioner of traditional folk and Piedmont-style blues - though you'll never get him to admit it.