Out of the Dark by Tim Fagan

Fagan earned the artist's cooperation by winning Mayer's Esquire magazine songwriting contest. (For the full story, click here.) After twice blowing off the unfamiliar 212 area code that appeared on his cell phone, Fagan finally picked up to find Mayer on the other end of the line, singing the winning song in his ear. In addition to the co-writing gig, Fagan received a custom Fender Stratocaster, and is featured an article about the whole episode in the January 2006 issue of Esquire.

With his effortless, crisp guitar and gravelly croon, the comparison to Mayer comes easily. Yet Fagan's musical influences extend all over the place - he cites Van Morrison, Chris Whitley, Jeff Buckley, and Stevie Ray Vaughan as just a few. His eclectic taste developed early. "Beginning when I was about 7, my brother and Dad and I had a Sunday ritual we called 'taping out.' I'd grab everything I could from their music collections. The mixes I made usually had the latest songs from Paul Simon, Dire Straits, Bruce Hornsby and Clapton. But I had one strict rule: side B always started with 'Born To Be Wild'. That was my theme song. I also drank way too much fruit punch back then and had really, really white hair."

Ever since, Tim Fagan has been trusting his musical instincts. And the world has begun to take notice. Just a year after its release, Fagan's first album, the self-produced Whirlpool, has received 4 stars from the All-Music Guide, independently sold over a thousand copies, and had cuts picked up by MTV and CBS. The breezy title track hit #1 on the GarageBand.com chart, and is featured on a compilation produced by Internet station mvyradio.com, which is getting distributed to 10,000 listeners nationwide at independent music stores. 2006 promises to be even bigger, between the Mayer contest win, the release of Out of the Dark, and continued gigs in LA and beyond. "It's been a busy month, and there's a lot of fun work to do now. I just hope I packed enough clean socks. And I hope you did, too."

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