Paco Estrada and One Love

Once upon a time, Paco Estrada fronted the now-defunct, fairly successful Dallas rock band South FM. These days, though, he's working on his solo material. And, as always, his writing serves as a confessional for what was obviously a lot of painful experiences.

Among them? South FM. In retrospect, it seems that act hindered his creative spectrum. The Anatomy of Letting Go is the broader canvas he needed. The LP graciously flows between tracks, with heartfelt string-section segues and some curious personal audio. The real digging begins with the second track, "Breathe." From here, Estrada's soulful vocal testimony remains distinct throughout the rest of the CD. Facing a level of emotion that many of us are chickenshit to address, Estrada stares into the abyss instead of backing away from the ledge, and comes back with the depth of expression that it takes to make heartsick music cross over from hokey to toweringly genuine.

By the album's midpoint, you're deep into the personal, unfiltered emotional territory that distinguishes his music from the average lighthearted romp through adult-contemporary radio sappiness. And how: An impressive reworking of South FM's "Killing Me," is, save the lyrics, a whole new listen; and on "Do You Believe," the album even takes an uplifting turn. So it's not all sad days here. There's also an element of redemption and inner strength through survival.

Not every moment is brilliance. At its worst, however, it's still a tad above average. Estrada is a passionate songwriter, but most of all he's candid. And bone-deep candor takes balls—not a quality usually associated with sentimental rock songs.