 While still in his mid teens, in the early 1960s, he performed in Greenwich Village and, following a chance meeting with Bob Dylan, was encouraged to pursue a solo music career in upstate New York.He attended Bard College in New York, and with his older brother John formed a band, the Ginger Men.By 1967, they had both signed with Verve Records, for whom they then recorded an experimental concept album, "Playback", issued in the name of the Appletree Theatre.