One El Paso Musician’s Collab Videos Have Been Exploding Online

Who doesn't love music or cat videos? Those are like 2 of my favorite things. One El Paso musician has been going viral with his collaborations on Instagram.

His name is Julio Ortega.

You might be familiar with Julio; he was the host of the defunct The Night Shift from All In El Paso; you also may have seen him appear on Jimmy Fallon in 2020 or Let's Make A Deal in 2021. Originally from Chihuahua, Mexico, he has been living in El Paso a good number of years being a very talented musician (he's also a really good friend of mine). One I've personally got to work with a number of times.

Recently his popularity has been gaining some momentum when he put out 2 collaboration videos on his Instagram account:

One back in August along with Josh Tells a Story & Bret Crow

And this one at the beginning of October with Jeff Rodegheri. This one has REALLY been taking off; many because of the furry companion on the keyboards.

That cat DOES has an Instagram account by the way: Barney The Piano Cat.

So how did Julio's videos explode online? When I asked him, his response was:

My original intent was just to come up with something two of my friends shared with me. The first one that went viral (the Nokia one) was a referral by Pablo Garcia & the 2nd one by Mike P (from Obscurity Within). To be honest, I don't even think this is my best work (I don't even consider myself a jazz drummer) but hey... you can't tell social media what to do (laughs). - Julio Ortega

It's a good thing he listened because his videos have likes in the hundreds of THOUSANDS & MANY comments.

So next time your on Instagram, be on the lookout for those videos in your recommendations! You never know when someone from El Paso will go viral.

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