“Tim Fagan is a winner.” So says John Mayer in the January 2006 issue of Esquire. While working on his new album, the Grammy winner offered up a handful of lyrics swimming around his head and asked any and all aspiring songwriters to write the music, and send in their recording. Fagan's original music stood out among the other 2,212 entries in the Esquire songwriting contest, earning him Grand Prize and co-writing credit to the new song, "Deeper." According to Mayer, “When I heard Tim Fagan's song, I yelled out loud at the speakers, pleading with him not to drop the ball on his way to a touchdown. He didn't. His song has a spare piano intro that's amazing in its economy. Tim's vocal performance is delivered with heart but not hurt. His composition is a string of events laid out so that there's always something else to look forward to, namely a nice blues-guitar solo at the end.” Fagan accidentally blew off Mayer’s first two calls to his cell phone, thinking the unfamiliar 212 area code probably belonged to a bill collector. The third call came during a lunch break; Fagan was eating Chinese food in his car in a strip mall parking lot. When he finally picked up the phone to find Mayer singing the winning song, Fagan says, “I was on another planet. It was ridiculous. I respect John Mayer as highly as any of my all-time musical heroes. He’s got a better attitude and more creative focus than anyone in the business today. So this is an especially meaningful honor for me. And no, that’s not the free guitar talking.” Fagan won a John Mayer Signature Fender Strat along with the co-writing credit. “Deeper” will be released on Fagan’s new Out of the Dark EP, scheduled for release on January 10th. Alongside “Deeper” the CD will include a batch of new tracks with “more energy and electricity than anything I’ve done before. There’s blues, funk, and lots of melody,” says Fagan. As a recent transplant to Los Angeles, Fagan has been making waves promoting his live shows and recordings in the competitive club scene. He cut his teeth playing the bars and colleges of the Detroit area, before heading west shortly after graduating from the University of Michigan. Hear "Deeper" at www.esquire.com, and look for it on Out of the Dark, currently available for pre-order through www.timfagan.com.