Recorded in 1997, and featuring contributions by the Dixie Chicks, Flaco Jiminez, and Bruce Robison, it's the most ambitious project yet in an already accomplished discography. "Never Started Living" seems to have the singular purpose of a compulsory two-step. Hard-charging "Date With the Angels" is decidedly not a country song, yet has perhaps the biggest bite on this stringer of great catches. Dayton's musicianship is clear on "Heartbreak California," with its angelically-melodic accordian and horn arrangement.

Whether the blatant imitation of a slide guitar on "Mama's Guilty Fool," the Elvis-like stammer on "Roses Ain't Enough," or lyrics delicately balanced atop a few simple guitar notes in "Letter to Home," what most sets Dayton apart from his counterparts is his brilliant employment of voice as another form of instrumentation.