By Jesse Bertel

The Black Donnellys, a Grammy-nominated, Emmy award-winning, Guinness World Record-breaking band from Dublin, Ireland, is taking time out from their six-night-a-week residency at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas to perform two shows at 2:30 and 7 p.m. Saturday, March 18, at the Prescott Valley Performing Arts Theatre, 3235 Main St.

They are a highly regarded, multi-instrumental-playing dynamic duo that has been wowing audiences all around the country for the past 10 years with their energetic shows.

The band’s members are Dave Rooney on guitar, lead vocals and Celtic whistle, and Dave Browne on mandolin and lead guitar.

“Now that we are well-known in the respect of having played six days a week, we have a huge return crowd,” Rooney said. “So anyone that comes back to Vegas always comes back to see us. As a result of that, you have to book a table now to come and see us.”

Renowned for their entertaining storytelling, sense of humor and crowd interaction, these immigrant trailblazers will bring you on a journey through their heartfelt ballads, up-tempo tunes and instrumentals, and will share their experiences on the road as they overcame their fears and adversity. They impart some wisdom and positive reinforcement in every audience they play to.

According to Rooney, the audience responds most to the stories behind their original music.

“I think they respond to that because people tend to attach their story to your story,” Rooney said. “I’m just always amazed at how powerful songs can be and how it kind of touches people in a certain way through the lyrics and the meaning of the lyrics and then people to attach their own meanings to them.”

Their show will consist of a 26-minute director’s cut of their Emmy award-winning rockumentary, “An Irish Story, This Is My Home” and a trailer of their upcoming film, “Through a Storm,” followed by a 90-minute musical performance.

Rooney explained that the idea for their second film project came to them while filming “An Irish Story, This is My Home.”

“When we were filming the last movie, we were in New York and we came across Ground Zero, and we were looking at the names and there were a lot of Irish names and we saw all these green scarves and football jerseys,” said Rooney. “So, I asked the security guard, and he goes, ‘Well, you know, we lost over a thousand Irish-Americans during the 911 fallout.’ It just immediately gave us a much bigger connection to it, and immediately we felt we wanted to do something to help.”

The musical performance includes original and contemporary songs, stories and up-tempo tunes that will keep your feet tapping right through the performance, ensuring a great night’s entertainment.

“An Irish Story, This is My Home” is available on Amazon Prime, Apple Tv, Roku and various other platforms.

For more information about the Black Donnellys Dublin, visit facebook.com/theblackdonnellys.

For tickets, visit pvperformingarts.weebly.com.

Jesse Bertel is a reporter/videographer for the Prescott News Network. Follow him on Twitter @ JesseBertel, email him at jbertel@prescottaz.com, or call 928-445-3333, ext. 2043.