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 6 years. Don and Keith were nominated for a grammy in 1985 for their work on Big Guitars From Texas.

Keith decided to quit touring and left the Tailgators — Jean Jacques (JJ) Barrera replaced Keith on bass. Currently Jim Starboard is 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.the Tailgators have traveled almost everywhere there is a club. Europe, Scandinavia, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and more cities in the USA than they can think of.

Don enjoys playing guitar with group and solo gigs in Austin. These days he is promoting his new cd “Hillbilly Boogie Surfin’ Blues” and will start playing more live shows soon