Dr. Damon Talley serves as director of bands and Paula G. Manship Professor of Conducting at Louisiana State University (LSU) School of Music where he oversees all aspects of the LSU department of bands, conducts the Wind Ensemble, and teaches graduate conducting. The nationally recognized band department at LSU serves as an integral component of the thriving School of Music. Under his leadership, the department has established an annual conducting symposium, high school and middle school camps that serve hundreds of students annually, and numerous outreach events for public school educators. The Golden Band From Tigerland marching band has been featured at national conferences on multiple occasions, and most recently, the LSU Wind Ensemble performed at the College Band Directors National Association national convention. Talley is a strong supporter and advocate of music in the public schools. He regularly serves as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator throughout the United States and abroad, including engagements in Germany, Switzerland, England, and Spain, among others. 

The LSU Wind Ensemble has released multiple recordings on the Equilibrium Label and continues to commission and record new compositions regularly. Talley has recorded on Best Classical Records and received favorable reviews from publications including Gramophone magazine and the American Record Guide. He has served as producer or associate producer on commercial recordings by the Naxos, Klavier, and Equilibrium record labels, and is published in the Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series, distributed by GIA Publications.

As an avid supporter of new music for the wind medium, Talley has conducted numerous world premier performances and has commissioned composers to write for the wind band. He has won praise for his work by composers such as William Bolcom, Steven Mackey, Kevin Puts, Joseph Schwantner, David Maslanka, Donald Grantham, and Michael Daugherty, among others. He regularly hosts visiting composers of national and international status on the campus of LSU, and is a strong advocate for young composers, often premiering pieces by student composers. Talley is currently the national chair for the New Works Committee of CBDNA as well as the chair for the Commissioning Committee for the SEC Band Directors Association.

Prior to his appointment at LSU, Talley held the position of director of bands at Shenandoah Conservatory, where he was responsible for guiding the wind band program, conducting the EDGE New Music Ensemble, and teaching graduate conducting. He has also taught on the faculties at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Michigan. Prior to teaching at the university level, Talley taught in the public schools in Texas at both the middle school and high school levels. He earned the Master of Music degree in wind conducting from the University of Michigan, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in wind conducting from the University of Texas. His principal conducting teachers are Jerry Junkin, Michael Haithcock, and H. Robert Reynolds. 

Talley is an elected member of the American Bandmasters Association, Phi Beta Mu, an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma and holds professional memberships in the College Band Directors National Association, the Louisiana Music Educators Association, and the Texas Music Educators Association Educators Association. He is also an educational consultant and clinician for the Conn-Selmer Corporation.