What's Next for Bruce Springsteen

April 24, 2006 — -- What's next for the Boss?

That's the question Bruce Springsteen hopes his fans continue to ask more than 30 years after he was first dubbed the future of rock 'n' roll.

"It's like every night, if I read something to my kids, or tell a story, what do they always say? 'But what happens next?' 'Hey, what happens next?'" Springsteen said to "Good Morning America's" Robin Roberts in an exclusive interview.

"You got to make people still ask what happens next."

Springsteen's latest album is not what many hard-core fans may expect. On "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions," Springsteen pays tribute to folk music legend Pete Seeger, moving away from the classic sound of the E Street Band while still stamping the classics with the Springsteen signature.

The record hits stores Tuesday when Springsteen will perform live for "Good Morning America" in Asbury Park, N.J.

"You're singing in the voice of somebody who lived 100 years ago, some of them three, four hundred years ago," Springsteen said of his first album for which he has not written a single song.

The "Seeger Sessions" was recorded in Springsteen's home studio over three days.

"Everybody set up playing, and it's really, it was tremendous," he said. "It's the joy of playing, but also you get the sound of people not just playing music but making, you're hearing the music being made, you know."

Springsteen's band on "Seeger Sessions" is a 17-member ensemble that includes fellow E Street Band mates Soozie Tyrell on violin and Patti Scialfa, Springsteen's wife, on vocals.

Springsteen said these songs from the past would resonate with those still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. He and the band are expected to perform at Jazzfest in New Orleans on April 30.

"You can take a gospel song and bring it anywhere with you," Springsteen said. "That music is built for hard times. … It was sort of coincidental that it all connected, and it's sort of going to be a nice place, because everything we're playing with this group, so much of it was born in that city. And we owe an incredible debt to all the musicians that came out of that city."