Alt-country's slumping popularity is enough to make No Depression masters Son Volt cry out for Prozac. The quartet's new album, "Wide Swing Tremolo," debuted in the Billboard top 100 but abruptly slid to No. 169 in its second week of release -- despite favorable reviews. Three years ago, the band's debut, "Trace," helped put heartland roots-rock on America's pop-culture radar (and sold more than 200,000 copies). But public taste is fickle, and now rap, Brandy-like pop, and soundtracks have a stranglehold on the sales charts. "You can drive yourself crazy thinking about the overall state of the music industry and where your band fits in," singer-songwriter Jay Farrar tells EW Online. "The main thing for us is to have a creative outlet, a place to play our songs."

Son Volt spent eight weeks in a rural Illinois studio recording "Tremolo," twice as long as they took for "Trace." The band cut both acoustic and electric versions of many songs, then chose their favorites for the album. "On the previous albums I felt it would have been good to have spent more time," says Farrar. "You have a different perspective when you get away from a song for a few days and then come back to it. As a result, this album is more layered than either of our other records." Fans can catch Farrar and Co. live in Chicago (Oct. 30), Milwaukee (Oct. 31), Los Angeles (Nov. 2), and San Francisco (Nov. 4).