Ulmer later met numerous notable musicians, including Elvis Presley, Les Paul and Mary Ford, Brook Benton, Nat King Cole, Fats Domino, Louis Armstrong, Muddy Waters, Elmore James, Howlin' Wolf, and Buddy Guy, and performed with some of them.

The country singer Jimmie Rodgers was a notable visitor, who played alongside the family while drinking whiskey from the still of the plantation owner's son.

His main influence for slide guitar technique was Blind Roosevelt Graves, whom Ulmer saw perform on the streets of Laurel, Mississippi.

[2] After starting to play on the streets himself, Ulmer found regular employment in his teenage years, building wooden trestles to support a railway line across Lake Pontchartrain.

[2] He continued to travel and, in 1955, found work at the Motoaurant on Route 66 in Holbrook, Arizona, and played in its nightclub, the Cock 'n' Bull.

[2] It was there that he met Elvis Presley, Les Paul and Mary Ford, Brook Benton, Nat King Cole, Fats Domino, and Louis Armstrong.

[5] In his further travels, Ulmer joined the musicians union in Hollywood, California, performed in most major states, and returned home to visit his parents.

It was here that Ulmer met and worked with Muddy Waters, Elmore James, Howlin' Wolf, Buddy Guy, Hound Dog Taylor, Jimmy Reed and Sonny Thompson, among others.