Presenting The New, Independent, More Real Ryan Cabrera

ralphieaversa (from yourhere.mtv.com), Wilkes Barre, PA

Forget “Slim Shady” — will the real Ryan Cabrera please stand up?

Just two and a half years ago, Cabrera lived THE life — recording for a major record label, dating sexy starlets, traveling the sphere and selling millions of CDs.

But the 25-year-old musician exited stage right from that lifestyle after separating with Atlantic Records. Cabrera traded his trademark dirty blond spikes for long, dark, curly strands. Gone are the preppy collars and trendy shoes, in are the rock star boots, top hats and skinny jeans. And say goodbye to long sleeves — the solo artist loves showing off his tats.

“I’m not with the same record label anymore, end of story,” an almost-relieved Cabrera said Monday inside the Woodlands Inn and Resort in Wilkes-Barre, PA. “I finally got to do what I wanted to do.”

Cabrera is in the midst of a three-month trek across the country, courting radio stations to garner support for his new CD, The Moon Under Water, which hits shelves in April. The first single, a catchy mid-tempo track titled “Say,” is impacting radio now.

Monday, the former major-label act performed a couple of songs acoustically inside the resort — despite an illness that rendered Cabrera near-voiceless. In a moment of “TMI,” the musician told me on the radio that he’d coughed up blood the night before.

Maybe Cabrera wasn’t set to be that stereotypical pop star after all.

The ill-stricken singer easily flowed through a rendition of the fan-favorite “On the Way Down.” Simply introduced as “OTWD,” Cabrera’s guitar riffs and fluctuating vocals nearly brought one 30-something to tears.

Next up, an unreleased ballad: “How About Tonight?” In one of those “Wow, musicians are humans too” moments, Cabrera actually paused so he could remember the strings of the song. Sooner than later his memory kicked in, and Cabrera seemed to muster whatever strength he had left to cover the vocal range demanded in the song. Cat calls for “True” went unfulfilled, as Cabrera cited “a lack of falsetto” due to his illness.

In addition to playing his guitar, Cabrera offered 97 BHT listeners a chance to hear tracks from his soon-to-be-released CD — an LP that he invested more than time into.

“I spent my own money putting it together,” Cabrera admits. “It’s on my new label. … Joe [Simpson] is helping me get it off the ground.”

Yes, that Joe Simpson. Father of Jessica and Ashlee — or as you may know the latter, Ryan’s ex.

Having Simpson as his manager “isn’t awkward,” he insists. “It’s all business.”

While Ryan dates Riley Keough, daughter of Lisa Marie Presley and granddaughter of Elvis, Ashlee now lip-syncs love songs to Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz. Meanwhile Jessica is tied up in some capacity with Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo — a person Cabrera calls “his boy.”

And no, the Dallas-born singer did not leave his manager messages instructing Jess to leave the QB alone.

“It’s just funny how people, you know, they want a story. Tony’s such an amazing quarterback, but all [the media] wants to talk about is that.”

After the elder Simpson sister attended a game in which Romo played poorly, and then whisked the Dallas star to Los Cabos, many suggested the blond bombshell became a distraction to the multimillion-dollar signal caller. Cabrera couldn’t dissent more adamantly.

He sees through the major record labels, the fake women and the media. Formerly molded into a stereotypical pop star, it seems the real Ryan Cabrera may be among us after all, even if he took a few years to arrive.