Next weekend, (((folkYEAH!))) presents its Spring Festival 2007. The festival runs Friday the 20th and Saturday the 21st at Fernwood Resort in Big Sur, and features a number of excellent bands, including Tussle, Flying Canyon, Port O’Brien, and this week’s featured band Black Fiction. Tickets are $15 for Friday and $25 for Saturday and will be available at the door. On Sunday, the show moves to the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur for a free Earth Day show featuring Citay, The Finches, Rubies and more. All of the details for all three days can be found here.

Here’s contributor Will Benham from New & Used Records with a look at Howlin Rain, one of the great local bands playing next weekend:

Among the acts at this year’s (((folkYEAH!))) festival will be Birdman recording artists, Howlin’ Rain. Fronted by Ethan Miller of Comets on Fire, the band’s 2006 self-titled debut is full of top-down, classic rock jams. The only difference between these songs and those of say, Creedence, is that as Comets on Fire’s songs extend beyond that expected three minute radio limit (as they frequently do), their thrashing and distortion-heavy solos kick into high gear. The band manages a perfect middle ground between the simple melodies and complex arrangements that define classic rock and the postmodern sound theory that characterizes Miller’s other project.

The above video was shot last year during some of the band’s first-ever live shows. It features on an interview with Miller, touring guitarist Mike Jackson, as well as original drummer John Moloney. Moloney has since been replaced by Garrett from The Cuts.