After two years as a pre-med major, he hitchhiked to San Francisco to
sing songs in coffee houses and seek out the poets of the Beat
Generation. He met Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Neal Cassady at City Lights
Bookstore.
Songwriter Tom Paxton discovered him in fall 1963, performing at the
Coffee Gallery. He moved to New York City and was introduced to the
Greenwich Village songwriting circle of Phil Ochs and Bob Dylan.
