The Tailgators: Press

Austin's Tail Gators sound like they are reassembling rock and roll out of its original elements. Lap steels sizzle, fiddles whine, and cheesy guitar riffs light up the night. Yes, this is it: swamp-rock heaven. -- Excerpt from Review of The Tailgators' Mumbo Jumbo album (1986)

A burning mixture of R&B and rockabilly, it's recommended to all rockers. -- Review of The Tailgators' Swamp Rock album (1985)

Of the numerous so-called "roots rock" groups active today, the Tail Gators dig perhaps the deepest. The no-frills trio of bassist Keith Ferguson, drummer Gary "Mudcat" Smith, and singer/guitarist Don Leady brews up a heady gumbo of blues, hillbilly, Cajun, Tex-Mex, and greasy R&B -- influences that are only hinted at in the final result. The debut album by the group from Austin, Texas, dubbed the mixture Swamp Rock; it is essentially what primal rock and roll was, and is, all about. -- Excerpt from Pair of Articles on Don Leady and Keith Ferguson ("The Tail Gators' Texas Swamp Rock"), Volume 20, No. 8, Issue 200 (August 1986)

These three Austin-based bad boys grind it up good through 13 swamp-stomping, roots-rocking cuts.... Front man and former LeRoi Brothers lead guitar-vocalist Don Leady has set aside his fiddle and accordion this time to serve up some of the tastiest, twangiest guitar work since the Gators' break-through Mumbo Jumbo LP in 1986. Drummer Gary "Mudcat" Smith and bassist Keith Ferguson, who early on played with the Fabulous Thunderbirds, make this a fearsome threesome as they pump out such rockabilly, blues and country-laced numbers as the hard-edge "Hoodoo" and the sinewy, sidewinding "Shake Dance". (In the Gators' current touring lineup, Ferguson has been replaced by J.J. Barrera.) -- Excerpt of Review of The Tailgators' Hide Your Eyes album (April 30, 1990)

As the title implies, this Austin trio gets down and dirty on this album. Fleshing out their basic guitar-driven lineup with sax and accordion, they whip up a casual stew of rockabilly, blues, and zydeco, laying down grooves that are deep enough to bury a pink Cadillac. -- Excerpt from Review of The Tailgators' It's a Hog Groove! album (February 9, 1996)

It would be pointless to try and cram Ferguson's colorful and checkered career into a few words; suffice it to say that his bass lines thundered throughout the world. If there was a bottom-line reason Austin became known for its blues, Ferguson created it. Even the great Muddy Waters used to narrow his eyes and whistle in admiration at Ferguson's muscular soul. After departing the T-Birds in the mid-Eighties, he went on to play with the Tailgators and the Solid Senders. -- Excerpt from Keith Ferguson's Obituary in The Austin Chronicle (May 2, 1997)

This "swamp rock" power trio of guitarist/singer Don Leady (ex-LeRoi Brothers), bassist Keith Ferguson (ex-Fabulous Thunderbirds) and drummer Gary (Mudcat) Smith, nearly shook the house down with a mix of swinging Texas blues and Cajun stomp, all set to a big beat.

At times it was hard to believe that this came from only three players, but the combination of Leady's roots guitar licks and Ferguson and Smith's rock-solid rhythms made for explosive chemistry. This stayed true even when Leady brought out his fiddle for the two-song Cajun encore.

-- Excerpt from "Gators Growl", a review of The Tailgators' performance at Club Lingerie in Los Angeles (June 2, 1986)