 As a young man, according to the music newsletter "The Broadside of Boston", he spent a number of years traveling the country and learning harmonica and banjo from such musicians as Brother Percy Randolph and Obray Ramsey.During a period in the early 1960s, Lyman lived in New York City, where he associated with other artists, filmmakers, musicians and writers.He was a friend of underground filmmaker Jonas Mekas, which led to the studios of Andy Warhol and Bruce Conner.