Minneapolis-based singer/songwriter Tim Mahoney got his start with the pop/rock band the Blue Meenies and went on to release a series of solo CDs: Tim Mahoney (1995), Now (1997), and Live (1998). Getting interest from a major label, he decided to splurge on his next album and hired members of John Mellencamp's band to play on 3 Different Views (2001), but the major passed and the album was his worst seller. Returning to basics, he began playing solo acoustic shows, and his next album was the stripped-down Full Circle (2003). He followed in 2005 with Songs We Wish We Wrote. He was made part of Target's Emerging Artist Program on the basis of his next album of original material, Stay/Leave, which appeared in February 2007, making him the first unsigned artist to have his CD sold in Target stores. His composition "Theme Song" won the Ray-Ban Never Hide music contest over thousands of other entries, and this enabled him to appear at the Hard Rock Café in Las Vegas as part of the 40th anniversary celebration of Rolling Stone magazine in September 2007 and to be featured in the issue of the magazine published on November 15, 2007. ~ William Ruhlmann