2 Tickets to the March 9, 2013 concert of Johnny Connolly and world guests. Come experience the Community Concerts off the Commons at the Winona Grange in Tualatin. 

The names "Johnny" and "Connolly" seem to somehow add up to "Box Player." Connemara melodeon player Johnny Connolly and his son, Johnny Og Connolly came first but Johnny B. Connolly, also known as "Johnny Box" has hit the Irish music scene with a flourish and with a little help from some very talented and well-connected friends.

The 26 year-old Dublin native has been playing music since he was 8 years old. "I started playing the whistle and I didn't move onto the accordion until I was 12," explains Connolly. His mother emphasized early musical education for Johnny and his 3 sisters and, fortunately enough, another branch of the family was taking the same tact. "Tom (flute) and Eamon Doorley (fiddle) (Connolly's cousins and members of Danu) are of a similar age – Tom is two years older than me and Eamon is two years younger than me so we used to hang out a lot as kids. So not only did we see each other socially, but we had something else to share as well, which was the start of our music. It went on from there over the years into the session scenes."

At 17 though, Connolly joined the Celtic ensemble Anam and spent two years honing his craft both in Dublin and touring festivals throughout Europe and Ireland with the group. "That was when Danu was taking off. We'd play together in sessions or whatever but then I went to America." Connolly still delights in playing with the Doorleys. "We still meet up all the time. They've come through Portland a couple of times and every time I go home I always hook up with them. It's great to see them and play socially like we always did. It just sort of turned out that way – the way they went and I went my way. There wasn't really any particular reason why it happened like that."