Johnny Koenig: Press

18 year old Johnny Koenig is indeed the "New Kid In Town" having moved to Cleveland from the New York City area in 2006.
His fine accordion work is enhanced by Bob Kravos (recording engineer) on accordion fills, bass, piano, and solovox; Norm Kobal on sax; Mark Habat on drums and Frank Okicki on banjo and guitar. Special guest performers include Canada's Polka King Walter Ostanek and Joey "The Cow-Polka King" Miskulin.
Johnny began playing music at age five with the influence from his late dad John, an entertainer and promoter in the New York area for many years.

Forget about rock 'n' roll, New York City native Johnny Koenig moved to Northeast Ohio last summer to keep polka music alive. "It's still so big in the Cleveland area compared to other parts of the country, so the music brought me here," said 19-year-old Koenig, whose father John was a well-known New York-based polka musician in the '70s and '80s.

Koenig recently talked with regular Plain Dealer freelance writer John Benson, who writes the weekly LocalBeat music column for the Friday! magazine.

"Cleveland has been noted as the polka capitol of the country and it's lived up to its billing," Koenig tells Benson. "It's been great. I've met a lot of people and some talented musicians. It's just a great hobby and a great way to meet people and have a good time. You're getting paid for one of the most fun things to do."

Koenig, who recently released his debut effort, the Slovenian-based polka album "New Kid in Town," said he's looking forward to taking part in the upcoming "Connecting Generations Diversity Day" at 11 a.m. Wednesday, April 25, at the Gallery West, second-floor library, Tri-C Western Campus, 11000 Pleasant Valley Road, Parma. "They thought it would be good to have a polka band trying to show my generation what the music and culture is about," said Koenig, who hinted he'll be playing polka versions of Van Morrison and Toby Keith songs for the youthful audience. You can keep up with Koenig's career at MySpace.com/johnnykoenig.