Odetta Holmes and Lawrence B. Mohr met at a bar called "The Lamp" on Kearney Street in North Beach, San Francisco in 1953, the area that the Beatniks were soon to inspire.

Lawrence (Larry) had just finished college at the University of Chicago, and travelled to San Francisco with his best friend who was shipping overseas into the Navy.

On one fateful evening in the summer of 1953, Larry began playing a Lead Belly song and Odetta joined in harmony.

Shortly thereafter, Odetta was hired by Peggy Tolk–Watkins, owner of the Tin Angel, to sing most evenings at the club.

He worked for the United States Public Health Service in Washington, D.C. for many years, went to graduate school, and eventually became a professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan.