Don Leady
At some point, Don will jot a few more notes down on this bio page... until then... here's the latest...
Raised outside of St. Louis, Don Leady started his first band, The Ramblers, when he was just 12 years old. He has been playing guitar professionally ever since...
Don co-founded the LeRoi Brothers in the early 1980s with his long-time buddy from Missouri, Steve Doerr. In 1985, he decided to start The Tailgators to explore his own version of Swamp Rock. He was joined by Keith Ferguson on bass and Gary 'Mud Cat' Smith on drums. The Tailgators traveled around the world over the next few years. During that time, the Tailgators received a Grammy nomination for best instrumental rock song. (Just a year earlier, Don and Keith as part of the Big Guitars from Texas for Frankie Camaro's song, Guitar Army, also received a Grammy nomination.)
Keith decided to quit touring and left the Tailgators -- Jean Jacques (JJ) Barrera replaced Keith on bass. Currently Chico Oropeza rounds out the Tailgators trio on drums. Although the Tailgators have not been touring lately, the Tailgators have been known to play a gig every so often in South Austin.
Unfortunately Keith Ferguson left this world in 1997 -- a true loss to the music world. Please check out the Links tab on this web site to view a few online tributes to Keith.
Don enjoys playing guitar with group and solo gigs in Austin. These days Don plays guitar with several talented musicians in Austin in a variety of different genres -- blues, Latin jazz, rock, surf and classical music (yes, even classical music -- got to keep those fingers nimble). He plays often in Austin with his Latin jazz and blues band, Alamo Suite -- with Cliff Hargrove on bass and Rick Gonzalez on drums.
More to come later...