He spun instantly infectious, toe-tapping ditties like “Two Princes” and “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong” into Billboard gold as the lead singer of the Spin Doctors back in the ’90s. By decade’s end, however, a rare vocal condition threatened Chris Barron‘s ability to speak at audible levels, let alone sing.

Fully recovered and basking in the buzz of his freshly released EP, Songs From The Summer Of Sangria, Barron is back—and currently making the rounds with his new band, The Time Bandits. The Crawler caught up with the fun-lovin’ frontman just prior to his Aug. 25 Iron Horse engagement. Here’s some of what transpired:

Nightcrawler: I know it’s been awhile since your vocal condition was diagnosed. Are you officially out of the woods with it, or doing vocal exercises, taking medication and the like?

Chris Barron: I had a paralyzed vocal cord, which is pretty rare. They don’t know what causes that, but it’s kind of similar to a Bell’s palsy and sometimes happens when you have a severe cold. My voice is back and better than ever—or so I’m told. I got a lot of vocal therapy and worked a lot with my voice teacher after, too.

I heard you went to Iraq with the Time Bandits to play a few shows. I’m wondering how this came about and what you brought back from it?

I was working with a guy who worked with somebody who went over there, and I asked if he could hook me up to go. It was a pretty incredible experience, riding around in helicopters, shooting machine guns… that kind of stuff. However you feel about the war, you have to love the troops. It was super rewarding.

So is completing a new studio project, I’d imagine, as you just did. It seems sangria brings out your inner Black Crowes. “Phony” in particular is a sweaty, sexy Crowes-y blues rocker. But my real question stems from your extensive roots in the biz. You sold millions when people actually bought discs in the millions. Sangria is, of course, an EP, and I was wondering if that was a calculated business decision, or did this small batch of songs just made sense together?

I wish I could make a calculated business decision. I might have been famous. We were kind of in an Exile on Main Street meets The Last Waltz headspace when we made the EP. I’ve never listened to a lot of Black Crowes, but I met Chris Robinson. He wasn’t very nice. I have met all of the Rolling Stones—and they were pretty much as cool as you can possibly be without being able to fly and have X-ray vision.

But I’m not really sure how people are going to buy music in the coming years… that’s someone else’s job to figure that out. My job is writing and recording the best music I can come up with. I think that music is central to the way human be-ings anchor themselves in their lives and times, and that people will probably always want to listen to it.

In other Iron Horse news, roots rockers The Stone Coyotes follow up a recent performance in support of Willie Nelson with a CD release party for their 10th studio opus, titled My Turn, on Saturday, Aug. 21.

And in Florence, Brian Chicoine & The Truck Stop Troubadours help kickstart a new country music series at the Silk City Tap Room on Thursday, Aug. 19.

Catch the Nightcrawler every Wednesday at 8:50 a.m. on the Steve Cantara Radio Show, WRNX 100.9 FM. Send correspondence to Nightcrawler, PO Box 427, Somers, CT 0071; fax to (860) 698-9373 or email garycarra@aol.com.