He enrolled in San Antonio College, a community college, where he met John Kuehne (later to be known as John London) and began a musical collaboration. The duo won the first San Antonio College talent award, performing a mixture of standard folk songs and a few of Nesmith's original songs. While in college, Nesmith began to write more songs and poetry and after moving to Los Angeles, Nesmith began singing in folk clubs around the city and had one notable job as the "Hootmaster" for the Monday night hootenannies at The Troubadour, a West Hollywood nightclub that featured new artists.