Casandra Faulconer is running away to join the circus.

A mainstay on the New Orleans music scene who has played with everyone from Dr. John to Lynn Drury, Faulconer has spent the last four years playing bass for perennial New Orleans rock band Cowboy Mouth.

Casandra Faulconer and Fred LeBlanc at Jazz Fest 2014. (Photo by Golden Richard III)

But a change in scenery is in store for Faulconer, who recently played her last Cowboy Mouth show in Dallas and will join the house band for Cirque du Soleil’s new touring show, Amaluna, in July.

“I feel like I’m leaving one circus for another,” she said.

Faulconer auditioned for a job with Cirque du Soleil three years ago when a friend of hers who plays percussion for the Quebec based company suggested she apply for an all-female show based on The Tempest that was then in the planning stages.

“I did a video audition, they liked it, but they didn’t hire me, so I just forgot about it,” Faulconer said. “And then, three years later, they called me up because their bass player left, and they wanted me to audition again.”

Figuring she had nothing to lose, Faulconer decided to audition again. She was shocked when they offered her the job.

“I started thinking about it, and I was like ‘well, it’d be crazy not to do it,’” she said.

The new show, Amaluna, is currently in Boston, and Faulconer will join up with the group after for the next stop in Washington, D.C., at the end of July.

“I’m going to be in the United States up until next spring, and then it moves over to Europe,” she said. “The shows stay between six to eight weeks per city, which is the exciting thing once we head over to Europe. I’m going to live in Paris for two months, and then Madrid for six weeks. That’s one of the most appealing things to me about the whole gig.”

For a modern circus known for the wildly exotic costumes worn by the troupe of acrobats, aerialists, jugglers, clowns, and tumblers in each show, Cirque du Soleil does not disappoint when it comes to dressing its musicians.

“It was really hilarious because they wanted me to get my measurements made before I got there so they could start working on my costume, and it’s like 45 measurements,” Faulconer said. “I called Lolet Boutté because I know she’s really good with that, and I was like “Lolet, I need your help!’”

While the musicians stay behind the scenes for most Cirque du Soleil shows, the band will be front and center for portions of the Amaluna show every night, so appropriate costumes are a must.

“From what I’ve seen, the band’s costumes remind me more of The Matrix,” Faulconer said. “I don’t know what I’m going to wear yet, but they’re wearing long jackets and they have like an airbrushed tattoo on the sides of their faces. It looks pretty cool.”

And while local music fans will see less of her while she’s touring the world with a circus while wearing a sleek costume and a facial tattoo, Faulconer said she will still jump on stage in New Orleans as often as she can.

“Until I leave for Europe, I’ll be home between cities,” she said. “I’m going to make sure that I’m going to be visible, and hopefully my friends will still hire me when I’m home for those shows.”

Faulconer already has a show with John “Papa” Gros’ Gristle Candy lined up for July, and she said she will always play with Lynn Drury as often as she can.

Add to that a new Cowboy Mouth album Go! set to be released on June 10 (marking her first time in the studio with the band), and Faulconer will have plenty tying her to New Orleans for the immediate future.

As for saying goodbye to the guys in Cowboy Mouth, Faulconer promised herself she wouldn’t cry at her last show with the band.

“Those guys totally made me cry on stage,” she said. “I knew it was going to be hard to say goodbye to them, but Fred LeBlanc brings up roses and says all these wonderful things, and I’m just crying like a little baby.”