Sirius Coyote.

Halloween be damned. With Spanish on track to become America's most-spoken language, I think we should do like Sirius Coyote and get into Dia de los Muertos. The Watertown-based troubadours brought a special Dia de los Muertos performance to the Buttonwood Tree in Middletown last Thursday.

Sirius Coyote's stage setup was a feast for the eyes. It included an altar for their deceased ancestors, with offerings of coffee and tequila, cigarettes and fruit. And their musical kit was like an ethnomusicologist's playground: in addition to their piano, banjo, and guitar, they used traditional instruments like berimbau, ocarinas, and percussion of every size, shape, and sound.

Band member Kathleen Sartor introduced songs with explanations of their meanings, occasionally performing spoken word as well. The band performed a wide variety of songs, too, including a traditional resistance anthems, a tune featured on "I Love Lucy," and a timely piece about La Llorona, the mother who drowned her own children. Their songs were occasionally a bit overlong. Most included a solo or two, but a few times the arrangements seemed to lose their punch for being so extended. On the whole, though, it was a delightful show that would entertain anyone with an interest in Latin American sounds and traditions.

It was a lengthy stay in Connecticut that made Julie Kay Clark decide to become a musician, and on Sunday she revisited her artistic birthplace with heaps of material in tow. She played for the brunch crowd at Guilford's Café Grounded, a funky, two-tiered coffeeshop in a converted Quonset hut. Her songs were excellent pop with a hint of country. However, I left scratching my head because Clark broke a major unwritten rule of performance: she played to a studio-recorded backing track that featured a full band, backing harmonies, and almost all her guitar parts. Her guitar stayed on her lap for the majority of the songs I saw.

Now, mind you, the band in the recordings was really good. But there was no way to tell how much of those recordings came from Clark, and how much might have come from engineers and producers. In essence, it was like watching karaoke. Ideally, Clark would play guitar on all of her songs, and use more minimalist drum tracks (or none at all). Otherwise, listeners may have the experience I had, and find it easy to appreciate her songs, but difficult to appreciate her talent.

Friday: Toussaint Liberator fronts local reggae heavyweights Buru Style for a special show at the Main Pub (306 Main St., Manchester; 10 p.m.; $7; 21+). Sunday: jump in the car and head up to Orange, Mass., for a massive bluegrass show. It's a benefit for the Caouette Music Scholarship, featuring the Stillhouse Jammers, Old Country Road, Big Apple'achia, Chasing Blue, Crossover, Acoustic Blue, and a reunion of the Cowtippers. (Athol/Orange Elks, 92 New Athol Road/Rt. 2A, Orange, Mass.; $15; cash bar.)