Ryan Cabrera is an unlikely member of The Simpsons — that’s the actual Simpson family, not the cartoon show.

The singer-songwriter shared the same vocal coach in Dallas as singer/reality show star Jessica Simpson. The coach sent Joe Simpson, Jessica’s manager and father, Cabrera’s demo tape. Joe was so impressed that he flew to Dallas, saw Cabrera play, and signed on as his manager that night after the show.

Now with his major label debut coming out at the end of the summer, Cabrera is still with Joe, opening for Jessica on her arena tour, and dating her sister Ashlee (they’re on-again, after being on-again-off-again).

Cabrera even moved in with the family for eight months when he moved out to Los Angeles.

“I was kind of like the son that they never wanted,” he tells andPOP, on the line from Connecticut.

With Joe as his manager, they first recorded a proper demo. Cabrera previously had an independent album released accompanied just by his guitar, but needed some material backed by a full band. When the demo was finished, they flew to New York and he played in front of label presidents and A&R reps for four months. Eventually, he was signed to Atlantic Records.

“Take it All Away,” scheduled for release on August 17, was recorded in June of 2003, and was produced by Goo Goo Dolls frontman Johnny Rzeznik.

“It’s a crazy business,” says Cabrera. “I recorded it when I was 20 years old and it will be out when I am 22.”

Although his album has been finished for over a year, he was never afraid that it would be shelved.

“As the artist, I wanted to get my music out there. The guy who signed me, Evan Lamberg, is really smart. I’m starting to understand why he wanted to wait.”

Instead of releasing a single to see how audiences receive it, Atlantic decided to have him tour to build up his fan base. He played at colleges and opened for Jewel. “That way, if radio isn’t with you, and if your video isn’t being played, you still could be going on and gaining fans. It’s the grassroots singer-songwriter king of way of doing it,” he says. “We were in no rush to put it out because it will happen when it’s right.”

And despite the delay, the songs, he says, still represent him today.

“Hopefully you don’t write a song that is only good for that point in time. A lot of people put a song on the radio and it’s gone forever after six months. I love Rzeznik and to Goo Goo Dolls, that you’ll hear his songs all the time. Hopefully I wrote music that’s kind of like that.”

Cabrera’s decision to work with Rzeznik was a no-brainer; he wanted to work with an artist who would ‘get’ his approach, rather than a producer, who is most concerned with making sure-hits. The only problem was getting Rzeznik to work with an unknown artist, which didn’t take much persuading. He heard Cabrera’s demo tape and that was all the convincing needed.

“I went to his house and he understood what I wanted to do. John didn’t want to change my sound at all. He wanted to take it to the next level. It was awesome working with John because he’s another artist and he understood this record from an artist’s point-of-view instead of from a producer dude’s.”

When they first started writing together, Cabrera accidentally almost ended his working relationship with “neat freak” Rzeznik.

“I was really nervous just to be [in his house]. I was all shaky. The second day I was sitting in the living room. He has this huge oversized thousand-fifty-hundred-billion thread count rug, and I just turned and knocked over a full bottle of red wine right in the middle of his rug. I was like, ‘umm, OK, I’ll be leaving now never expecting to hear from you again.’ I tried to clean it up the best I could.

“Then my manager Joe comes over two weeks later and he drops his Diet Coke almost on the same spot.”

Cabrera will begin a solo tour after wrapping up the Jessica tour in July.

“As long as I keep getting to play, I don’t care if it’s huge arenas or clubs.”

A duet with his girlfriend Ashlee is doubtful, with their busy schedules and different styles of music. Cabrera is just happy to be part of the family.

Check out Ryan Cabrera’s Media Player and watch the music video for “On the Way Down.” Visit Ryan on the web at ryancabrera.com.






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