Wariner, a master of the subtle touch, builds this album's impact quietly and methodically, with songs like
Bill Anderson's "The Tips of My Fingers" and
Wariner's own "Like a River to the Sea." "Leave Him out of This" is a masterpiece of smoldering intensity, its raging anger and pain barely held in check. The only time
Wariner lets it loose is at the end, where he locks his guitar in mortal combat with Mark O'Connor's fiddle in the cathartic "Crash Course in the Blues."