By age 11, he was performing with a youth troupe, the Cactus Kids, singing and playing guitar at store openings, company parties, and USO clubs throughout Southern California.

He also played with many other musical icons in clubs, halls, and historic L.A. venues like El Monte Legion Stadium, with Art Laboe as MC.

[1] As a member of the Legion's house band, The Masked Phantoms, and at Harmony Park, he backed hitmakers The Penguins, The Coasters, The Olympics, The Jaguars, Ritchie Valens, The Righteous Brothers, Gene Vincent, Don Julian and the Meadowlarks, and Jessie Hill, among others.

In the 1960s, Preston's band, Don and the Deacons, played at the popular Cinnamon Cinder,[2] a Studio City club owned by Bob Eubanks.

The first was Bluse (1968), and the second was Hot Air Through A Straw (1968) by Don Preston & The South with Bob Young, Casey Van Beek, and Bobby Cochran.

In 1970, Preston, appearing as "The Gentle Giant," joined an all-star band to back Joe Cocker for a celebrated eight-week tour in March to May 1970.

As part of the Leon Russell and Friends ensemble, Preston also appeared in The Homewood Sessions,[7] an unscripted and unrehearsed one-hour TV special on KCET (Los Angeles) that aired in December 1970 and was later rebroadcast on PBS (Public Broadcasting Service).

During these years, Preston played numerous sessions, concerts, and gigs as a featured, side, and solo artist in the United States, Europe, and Asia.

He showcased his versatility in the late 1990s, performing in the musical revue It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues at the Crossroads Theater in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

The theater company later moved to Montgomery, Alabama, for several weeks, after which it played for a year on Broadway in New York City (without Preston) where the musical received a Tony nomination.