Groban strolls in Linkin Park

The names behind the songs on Josh Groban’s 2001 debut album fit the pop-classical crossover mold to a T: Bach, Ennio Morricone, Don McLean and David Foster, among them.

It was a successful formula, selling more than 3.4 million copies. So for his second studio album, which is due in November from Warner Bros. Records, you can look for more of the same.

Oh, plus maybe some Linkin Park.

Well, Groban is just 22, so it’s no surprise he might want to break out of the mold. But his audience, fueled more by his high-profile appearances on “Oprah” and his PBS concert special than his No. 1 adult contemporary radio hit “To Where You Are,” is predominantly an older, female demographic. Not exactly the crowd that will be seeing Linkin Park on the Summer Sanitarium tour.

Don’t worry. He hasn’t made a hard-rock record. Groban has recorded a version of Linkin Park’s “My December,” a B-side from sessions of the L.A. band’s 2001 debut, “Hybrid Theory,” and something of a ballad to begin with.

“Certain melodies are universal and don’t necessarily need to be done rock all the way,” says Groban, who heard the song on the radio one day on the way to the studio. “We found this Linkin Park song that is really beautiful, and not one of their songs a lot of people know about. We put a full orchestra on it.”

The L.A.-based tenor has just been in France recording with Deep Forest, the world music/ambient-techno duo.

“We were laying down a couple of tracks, one of them very Deep Forest, very exploratory,” Groban says. “I said, ‘Take my vocal, try cutting it here and there, do some improvisation.’ ”

Groban also is co-writing songs for this album, something he didn’t do on the debut, although overall the changes are hardly radical. Foster, who discovered and signed Groban when the singer was 18, is overseeing the album closely, with Walter Afanasieff (whose work with Celine Dion and many others ranks him among the top pop producers) and Rhys Fulber (known for lush electronic settings), both returning from the debut’s team.

“For the second album,” Groban says, “I feel the fans have given me permission to go ahead and explore.”

Melinda Newman, West Coast bureau chief for Billboard magazine, agrees that Groban’s success has given him some latitude, as long as it’s in moderation.

“His fan base -- the older, female base -- is very devoted,” she says. “They want to follow him and will be very interested in hearing something new, especially if it falls in the same vein musically, if they can depend on him to deliver something they know they’ll like. But he can grow -- as long as he doesn’t do a hip-hop album or something.”

Springsteen may bypass West Coast

The good news for L.A.-area Bruce Springsteen fans: There are plenty of tickets available for the Boss’ upcoming concert closest to home.

The bad news: That concert is in Denver.

When Springsteen’s stadium tour dates -- including 10 sold-out shows at Giants Stadium in New Jersey and the first-ever rock concert at Boston’s historic Fenway Park -- were announced last month, it was assumed that it was just the first leg, with shows in the Western states to be added. But it’s looking more likely that Springsteen and his E Street Band might pack it in after a Sept. 27 Milwaukee show.

The Springsteen camp made inquiries for just about every major concert site in the L.A. area, from outdoor sports facilities Dodger Stadium, Edison Field in Anaheim and the Rose Bowl to the smaller Hollywood Bowl and the Pond in Anaheim. But as of now, the sense of most concert promoters contacted by Pop Eye is that dates here or anywhere west of Denver are unlikely, although reports persist about a show at Pacific Bell Park in San Francisco. If that happens, it makes sense that an L.A. show would also be booked.

A Springsteen spokesman says that there is no information at this time about further tour plans.

Small faces

* Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler has been named to receive the Musicians Assistance Program’s Stevie Ray Vaughan Award, and will perform at the organization’s banquet Nov. 5 at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Also honored that night will be Jimmie Vaughan and attorney John Branca.This is the fourth annual event for MAP, the key organization working with musicians dealing with chemical dependency.

* Five “lost” recordings of Eva Cassidy, the Maryland singer whose recordings became hits after her cancer death in 1996, will anchor a new album, “American Tune,” due Aug. 12. The five songs, including versions of the Beatles’ “Yesterday” and Ray Charles’ “Hallelujah I Love Him So,” were recently found by the singer’s guitarist, Keith Grimes, in his garage.