Wide Swing Tremolo

Alt-country's slumping popularity is enough to make these No Depression masters cry out for Prozac. Still, this third missive from the heartland proves that no one does the soulful twang-and-burn better than Jay Farrar and Co. Uncustomarily upbeat (though still melancholic at their core), many of the songs on Wide Swing Tremolo — ''Driving the View,'' ''Straightface,'' ''Medicine Hat'' — return to the power and purity of the band's brilliant 1995 debut, Trace. B+

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