[3] Hogan learned to play the guitar as a teenager and was performing regularly by the late 1930s.
[4] He had relocated to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, by the early 1950s and, equipped with a Fender electric guitar, formed the Rhythm Ramblers,[2] with Isaiah Chapman (lead guitar), Jimmy Dotson (drums), and Sylvester Buckley (harmonica).
They stayed together for almost ten years and contributed to the development of the Baton Rouge blues sound, In 1962, when Hogan was 51, Slim Harpo introduced him to J. D. "Jay" Miller, a record producer based in Crowley, Louisiana.
On some of his recordings, Hogan was backed by the harmonica player Moses "Whispering" Smith.
[5] Hogan had to disband the group and returned to his full-time job at the Exxon oil refinery.