Johnny Bush is doing two things he once thought would never be possible-selling an acoustic album like hotcakes and serving as a spokesman for a national campaign on movement disorders.

The former is out of character for the consummate honky-tonk singer who made his mark with up-tempo shuffles and weeping steel-guitar riffs.

The latter is almost a miracle, considering the man once dubbed "the Country Caruso" could barely talk for almost three decades.

In the early 1970s, Bush was on his way to stardom with "Whiskey River" rising in the charts when he woke up one morning and could not speak.

Although he could still sing with a diminished range, his career took a nosedive because few trusted a crooner who could not talk. Years of dashed dreams and frustration later, Bush was diagnosed with spasmodic dysphonia, a neurological disorder that causes spasms in the vocal cords.

There is no cure. But there is a fix--Botox injections, which he discovered a little more than a year ago.

His speaking voice returned along with much of his vocal range, and he was recently asked to join Life in Motion, a campaign on movement disorders that affects more tan 40 million Americans, or nearly one in seven people. Spasmodic dysphonia is one, along with others such as tremors or Parkinson’s disease.

"The horror stories are all the people who have been misdiagnosed," said Bush, who recalled a woman whose doctor thought she had spasmodic dysphonia and treated her by injecting her vocal cords with Teflon, which didn’t help.

She eventually talked to Bush, who put her in touch with the right medical personnel.

"We need people to be aware that if they have a problem, to contact me or Life in Motion," he said.

The return of Bush’s speaking voice also allowed him to perform at acoustic gigs, where the rapport with the crowd is almost as important a the songs.

That led him to record "Devil’s Disciple," his first acoustic album in a career spanning six decades. Bush wrote the title cut, a classic torment of choice and heartache, that was his first song recorded by a major artist, Sonny Burns in 1961. It’s the first time Bush has recorded it.

Others include Lefty Frizzell’s hit "Long Black Veil," Willie Nelson’s "Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground," Tom T. Hall’s "Jethro" and Randy Travis’ "Three Wooden Crosses" for a little redemption.

"These are the kind of songs we used to sing sitting around in a motel room after a job, songs we like to hear," Bush said.

While the album’s 15 song are musically uncluttered, Bush’s expressive vocals hang meat on the bare-bones arrangements for interpretations that make listeners believe he experienced every joy and misery in he range of human experience.

"I’m really proud of this acoustic album," he said.

The CD is only available at his shows and through www.johnnybush.com to keep it from competing for shelf space with his latest studio release, "Honkytonic."

"We don’t want it to get in the way of the momentum that ‘Honkytonic’ is gaining and because it’s such a complete departure from what I’ve done in the past," he said.

"Honkytonic" finds Bush sharing vocals with younger Texas stars such as Kevin Fowler along with Willie Nelson on "Whiskey River," the first time Bush and Nelson have recorded it together.

The current radio single is Nelson’s "I Gotta Get Drunk," which Bush sings with Willie and Cooder Graw.