This story holds almost everything Johnny Rodriquez said in an interview we had back in the mid '70s. But for the record he seems to have added Bobby Bare.
Rodriquez gave the reason for his discovery to a)goat roping which landed him in jail, b)singing in his jail cell which impressed the ranger who then pointed Rodriquez out to c)Tom T. Hall.
At the time Rodriquez gave the interview he was recording with Mercury Records (which was Tom T. Hall’s label).
It’s possible Bobby Bare could have been left off because he was with RCA. Bare and Hall are old poker buddies.