John Prine; Heather Eatman

John Prine; Heather Eatman (House of Blues; 1,000 capacity; $ 27.50) Promoted inhouse.

Bands: (Prine) Larry Crane, Jason Wilbur, Phil Parlapiano, Dave Jacques, Ed Guas; (Eatman) Jacques. March 7, 1996. John Prine has been experimenting with all kinds of music and all kinds of bands since emerging as the Great Folk Hope from Chicago in the early '70s. But he has never sounded better than he did Thursday at the House of Blues.

It was a good thing too, for his fans (none of whom are getting any younger) had to stand (this being the virtually seatless House of Blues) for nearly four hours to see the entire show. Prine and his band played for well over two hours.

The current group includes two electric guitarists, keyboardist Phil Parlapiano, and a bassist and drummer, most of whom double on at least one other instrument. On some songs, they turned into a hot country outfit ("Come Back to Us Barbara Lewis Hare Krishna Beauregard"); on others they were a powerful, bluesy rock 'n' roll band. The band setting was reminiscent of those backing Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits: versatile, there when needed, and never overpowering. For several numbers, Prine was accompanied only by his own acoustic guitar.

The sold-out house clearly was familiar with Prine's material, singing along spontaneously on "Dear Abby" and "Big Old Goofy World," and turning the climactic "Paradise" into a hootenanny. Prine introduced several numbers from his recent "Lost Dogs & Mixed Blessings" album (on his own Oh Boy label), most notably including the bluesy "Ain't Hurtin' Nobody" and "Quit Hollerin' at Me," the medium-tempo Chuck Berry pastiche "Leave the Lights On" and the reflective, inventive "Lake Marie"-- it's as strong an album as Prine has recorded in years.

Opener Heather Eatman -- also signed to Oh Boy Records -- is a Texan transplanted to New York, where she's become a sort of urbanized folk singer; think of Drew Barrymore wavering between Lou Reed and a less flowery Melanie.

She's pretty interesting, but the House of Blues crowd kept relatively quiet for the first number ("Halfway Hotel"), then returned to their usual level of conversation, relegating Eatman's lyrics to wallpaper.

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