Spring cleaning in the middle of July … I found a box of old cassette tapes. In the midst of the dust and forgotten T.S. Eliot renditions of his own poems was one box marked “Ken Layne.”

I already knew I had a demo of Layne with the Roadhogs, which I burned on CD so I could give a copy to Layne. I had no idea I had this tape.

Imagine finding a acetate of Hank Williams rehearsing “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.” I’m not saying I have that, but I do have Layne with just his guitar running through “Not Lonely ‘Nuff For You,” as well as “You Aren’t Doing’ Nuthin’,” “Drift Back,” “Thank You Babe,” and “Winter Rains.”

Clearly, this was a demo Layne gave to my roommate (Todd Hilton, operating then under the name Hugh Jorgan, playing bass for the Roadhogs, now a math teacher in Temecula) so he could learn the songs.

And I’ve got it.

Not that I can do anything with it. I mentioned something to Layne once about putting an MP3 up on this site and he mumbled something about having three lawyers, and I crawled back in my hole.

But I’ve got a genuine Ken Layne demo tape. Though I hear such tapes are about as hard to get as fake uranium purchase orders in Niger. If you haven’t scored a Ken Layne demo yet, you can buy his new CD here. All of the cool people have already bought a copy.