At first, Jaime Guevara’s version of “Hey There Delilah” sounds like another cover of the original song by Plain White T’s. But a few seconds later, an accordion enters the mix. Then, Guevara changes his humming from English to Spanish. “¿Qué tal, Dalila?” he sings while interpreting the lyrics and the feeling of the song for a new audience. “Here I am if you feel lonely.” Suddenly, the song that was a hit in the mid-2000s has become a norteña, a ballad of a regional Mexican genre that heavily relies on accordions and other acoustic instruments.
Guevara, a musician from Houston, and his EZ Band have created more than a dozen norteño-style versions, such as Radiohead’s “Creep” and Adele’s “Easy on Me,” and their popularity has taken off. The EZ Band’s version of “Hey There Delilah” has been played over 1.5 million times on Spotify and at least 2 million times on TikTok. Their version of “Santeria,” originally by the band Sublime, even caught the attention of a fan account. And most recently, the band ventured into swiftie territory with a new version of Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space” from the album “1989.”
“It has changed my life a lot,” said 33-year-old Guevara in an interview, referring to the recent and growing interest in the EZ Band and their album “Make it Norteño Vol. 1.”
Of course, new versions in different genres are not a new concept. There are Beatles songs that have become polkas, and “Hotel California” has received the ukulele treatment. But the EZ Band’s songs are gaining popularity at a time when norteña music and other regional Mexican genres like tumbados are becoming more popular.
These blends of old Top 40 hits and norteño music offer first and second-generation Americans a way to connect with a musical heritage they may not always know or may have left behind. It also exposes the unique norteño sound to new audiences in the United States.
The sound of norteño music has influences dating back to the 1840s when Germans began settling in what is now southern Texas, explained Celestino Fernández, a retired sociology professor and consultant at the University of Arizona.
“They brought their music with them, and the accordion was a foundational instrument for the waltz and polka,” Fernández said. “Then Mexicans, with the 12-string guitar, basically created norteño music.”
Guevara, who was born in Monterrey, Mexico, shared that his versions were a product of his life experience: he grew up listening to norteñas thanks to his father, who played music on buses for tips in Mexico. When he moved to Houston with his family at the age of 9, he was exposed to new music genres in a new language. Years later, Guevara’s wife, who is from Minnesota, introduced him to more new music from the wide range of American pop.
“I am from the generation that grew up here listening to all the music in English but also has family that listens to norteñas,” Guevara said. “I receive many comments from people saying, ‘You are combining my two worlds.'”
For decades, norteño music has been popular mainly in the regions where it originated: northern Mexico, the southwestern United States, and California. But in recent years, the genre has gained new recognition thanks, in part, to the popularity of other Latin artists like Bad Bunny and Peso Pluma. Both have collaborated with norteño bands.
Since Peso Pluma collaborated earlier this year with the Mexican regional band Eslabón Armado on “Ella baila sola,” the song reached number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, the main pop chart, and has been played over 380 million times on YouTube.
“I never thought it would reach the level it has,” Guevara said about the current interest in norteño music. “It’s a bit surprising to see how much it has taken off.”
Fernández said that part of the boom in norteño music could be attributed to the growth of the Latino population in the United States.
“I think what we are seeing is that there are more and more Mexican migrants in the United States, especially in the Southwest, and people bring their culture,” he said. “Some have heard that music at home when they were children and now maybe they are reconnecting with it.”
Catherine Ragland, an ethnomusicology professor at the University of North Texas, said she had noticed the interest in her own neighborhood. The teenagers who used to play rap and reggaeton in their cars, she said, are now blasting regional Mexican music.
For immigrants who moved to the United States recently or at a young age, listening to more traditional music can be a way to connect with their culture, Ragland said.
“This is a way to feel more authentically Mexican and actually connect with that,” she said. “The more they go back to these older styles, the more you really feel connected to something.”
But perhaps a simpler explanation for the new popularity of norteño music is that it is catchy and easy to dance to.
“Norteño music is dance music,” Fernández said. “When there are events, people like to dance, and Mexicans and Mexican-Americans have many events around them.”
Throughout Mexico and parts of the United States, norteño bands are often hired to play at baptisms, first communions, weddings, and even funerals, Fernández said. In Houston, the EZ Band has performed at bars, parties, and recently, at a halftime show during a Major League Soccer game.
After discovering the EZ Band on social media, Juan Loya, multicultural marketing director for the Houston Dynamo, reached out to the group and invited them to perform.
Loya, 45, grew up in Houston and said the band’s music resonated with him because his parents were from Mexico, and he used to listen to norteñas at parties and other events. He thought the Dynamo’s fanbase, which is predominantly Hispanic, would also enjoy it.
“Hearing it from a different perspective or in another flavor,” Loya said of the EZ Band’s norteño sound, “it’s really impactful for me, and I don’t think I’m the only one.”
Adriana Torres, 38, from Maryland, said she discovered the EZ Band while browsing social media and became hooked on their sound.
“It immediately took me back years,” said Torres, who added that she grew up listening to norteñas and other Mexican genres.
“This really moves people like me, Mexican Americans, but also everyone,” she said. “It exposes our music in that style.”
Jesus Jimenez is a general assignment reporter. More by Jesus Jimenez.