[2] Coming from comfortable middle-class homes they could, at the outset, pursue their common musical ambitions as a hobby, a circumstance that allowed them much more freedom of choice.
Their initial inspiration was a local ensemble called the Al Johnson Orchestra, which gave them the motivation they needed to improve rapidly.
However, the spread of culture at the day was hampered by limited technology, so the Austin High School Gang grew up in an environment where jazz music was not yet thriving.
The boys, like many other students from their high school, frequented an ice cream parlor across the street known as “The SPOON and the Straw.” Usually, one of them would feed a nickel to the automatic phonograph.
Their pre-professional training was almost complete when they heard Gennett records made by Bix Beiderbecke and the Wolverines, and they drew further inspiration from their style of New Orleans music.