The finger-picked banjo that helps kick off "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions" is a good sign that Springsteen fans are in for a different kind of a ride this time around. Fortunately, the trip is every bit as enjoyable as other memorable rides with The Boss.

Springsteen caps off what is arguably the most satisfying three-disc run in recent rock history with this album. What's really impressive is that each of the discs have been so vastly different. With 2002's "The Rising," the Boss wore his rock-and-roll savior hat and delivered stadium-sized anthems that drew inspiration from the tragedies of 9/11. "Devils and Dust," released in 2005, was a darkly intimate and personal collection of very literate songs, vastly similar in feel to 1982's "Nebraska."

On his latest CD, New Jersey's favorite son reconnects with his working-class roots and re-establishes his bond to traditional folk music with a collection of songs closely associated with the great Pete Seeger. It's an outstanding tribute to Seeger, but, more importantly, it's simply an outstanding album.

The album is joyous and fun, two things that definitely couldn't be said of Springsteen's last two outings, and the vocalist sounds like he's having the time of his life here. He's made so much "important" music over the years--songs that spoke for/to "The People"--that it's often easy to overlook how great he is at simply leading a good-time rock-and-roll band.

Working with his large Seeger Sessions Band, Springsteen takes folk music out of the coffeehouses and brings it to the pubs. That's hardly sacrilege, given that the roots of folk music run straight through centuries-old drinking establishments in Ireland, Scotland and England. Springsteen's versions of songs such as "Old Dan Tucker," "Jesse James" and "Mrs. McGrath" contain so much raucous Irish spirit that one might think he was backed by The Pogues.

It's a fascinating addition to one of the greatest catalogs in rock history. This critic simply can't wait to see what The Boss pulls next.