Promoting traditional raga principles, Nath exerted an influence on notable American minimalist and jazz musicians, including La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and Don Cherry.

Both guru and disciple were much attracted to mysticism: Abdul Wahid Khan, a Muslim, to Sufism; and Nath, a Hindu, to a Shaivite sect in Dehra Dun.

However, Nath stuck to Abdul Wahid Khan's extra-methodical and austere singing style, with a heavy emphasis on alap and slow tempo, which suited his voice well but was not very popular.

Like his teacher, Pran Nath's singing emphasized precise intonation and the gradual, note-by-note exposition of tone and mood in the alap section of the music.

In 1970, Pran Nath travelled to New York to visit the American composer La Monte Young and visual artist Marian Zazeela, who heard his first issued recording, Earth Groove: The Voice of Cosmic India (1968).