Salesman

Audience members will be treated to an exclusive tour of the park’s storied cavern system, including stops at showpieces like the Frozen Falls, flowstone Chandelier Room, and glitter-encrusted Hall of Diamonds, arriving at the vaulted Council Room just as the first strains of music begin. Afterward, the crowd will emerge into the light of August’s full Red Moon to enjoy a post-show meet-and-greet with the bands, with refreshments provided by Austin’s East End Wines (1209 Rosewood Ave.). Tickets are $15 (using the promo code FanClub) and can be purchased through the Park’s website, www.longhorncaverns.com.

Since an underground river first carved the 173-foot Council Room, which glistens with rich mineral veins and sparkles with crystals, the domed cavern has seen many historic dramas played out. In the 1920s the hall was home to a speakeasy, slinging hooch and hot jazz on the weekends. Before that, the chamber was a Confederate stronghold where gunpowder was produced in secret. Deep in the shadowy past, prehistoric hunters dragged their kills of bison and bear there for butchering. Naturally maintaining a comfortable 68 degree temperature year round, the caverns are a family-friendly visual, geologic, and as of this show, musical, wonder.

“Salesman is one of the most original bands of the last ten years,” said legendary MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer after collaborating with them on “Four Legs,” a song the band wrote in honor of the charity Jail Guitar Doors. Known for startling, spectral, and colorful live shows, like their recent sold-out “Wasp EP” release at Austin’s Swan Dive, Salesman blends chants, post-gospel harmony, enveloping noise, reverb-drenched chiming guitar, and acid-fried storytelling to create what the Denver Post’s Billy Thieme called “sparse and powerful compositions. Go see this band live. This is one band you’ll regret having missed soon enough.”

Fresh off the release of their own swirling, fearless, and critically adored eponymous EP, Lord Buffalo will howl the caverns to life with a set called “mind-blowing” by KUT 90.5’s Laurie Gallardo, and “not for the fainthearted, only maybe for the broken-hearted, and most definitely for the dark-hearted” by UK critic John Grain. “It’s the sound of a revenge Western film,” wrote independentclauses.com, “right about the time the hero decides he’s going to give in to his darker side and do the deed.”

Mother Falcon, a critically acclaimed and ever-shifting flock of young classical and indie musicians based in Austin, was recognized by the Austin Chronicle’s Margaret Moser as a “distinguished … purveyor of chamber pop. Strings swell with sensuous abandon, [and] Mother Falcon is one with the night.” The organic, enveloping outfit will be performing on August 31 as a 12-piece ensemble comprising traditional orchestral and modern instruments.

History and mystery meet. The subterranean past and the musical underground sound as one. For more information on this one-time performance, please visit www.longhorncaverns.com, as well as the bands’ websites. 

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