Elliott Yamin performs during KIIS-FM's Wango Tango concert, Saturday, May 12, 2007 in Irvine, Calif.

AP Photo/Danny Moloshok

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Nobody can say Elliott Yamin isn't doing it his way.

"American Idol" passed on the third-place vocalist in 2006 when producers doled out Season Five record contracts, but the 28-year-old soon worked out a publishing deal with Sony/ATV and now has a self-titled hit album on the Billboard independent charts.

Yamin is currently on the first leg of his nationwide solo tour and comes through the Rialto Theatre Tuesday.

We caught up with him last week from the road in Salt Lake City.

You went on a nationwide arena tour with the "Idol" finalists after the show ended. Now, you are playing smaller venues on your own. Do you prefer one or the other?

"The arenas were great. I had a blast doing those. Who wouldn't like to get up in front of 16,000 people every night back-to-back-to-back. At the same time, I really enjoy doing these small clubs and theaters. It is more intimate. You get to really interact with the crowd. Dare I say I probably do prefer this kind of tour we are doing here."

"I keep in touch with quite a few people. Bucky (Covington) and Taylor (Hicks) were my best friends on the show. I talked to Taylor probably about a week ago when we were in St. Louis and Bucky a couple of weeks ago. I talk to Ace (Young) all the time. Ace has probably become one of my better friends post-show. He lives in L.A., pretty close to where I live.

"We talk about more personal stuff than the business stuff. Everyone has been so busy, they just want some normalcy."

Do you feel recording independently from the "American Idol" machine has been to your advantage?

"Absolutely. I've been involved every step of the way with every facet of this project from co-writing songs to picking out the sequencing on the record to trying to help pick where I wanted to go on tour. Everything from top to bottom. I am a partner in my own deal. I have more vested in this. I don't have to go out and sell 2-3 million records to be successful."

What did you want to achieve with your first solo album?

"I just wanted to bring raw, soulful music. I didn't want it to get overproduced or sound too copy. There is an eclectic mix of sounds on the record. I wanted to work with as many people as I could and have as many different sounds as I could. There are some sounds on there for the blue hairs, for the young folks and for everyone in between. Had I been on a major label, I wouldn't have been able to record that way. I am proud of how we accomplished it. I am looking forward to the next record."

You were diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when you were 16 years old. Now, you are a celebrity advocate for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. How does it feel to hold such a title?

"I think it is very important. A lot of people align my struggle with calling me a role model. I don't know if I necessarily want to be one, but I definitely want to be a voice.

"I've had my struggles with it when I was younger. I know what it was like to have diabetic seizures. I know what it is like to be at your lowest point.

"Maintaining it on the road is very challenging. You learn how to cope with the different ways and different situations. It is just a matter of checking my blood sugar more often. I wear an insulin pump. It is more conducive to my lifestyle, which is always on the go."

"I did a big Christmas deal with Target. I will be recording that album in July. We go out on the road and do the second leg of the tour in August and September. Then it is on to the next album."