Conner Smith opened up about life after his involvement in a tragic fatal car accident last year in Nashville, Tennessee.

The country artist, 25, was behind the wheel of a Chevrolet Silverado when he allegedly struck Dorothy “Dot” Dobbins, 77, in a crosswalk on June 8, 2025 in downtown Nashville. Earlier this year, charges against Smith were dropped at the request of Dobbins’ family. Smith’s attorney, Worrick G Robinson IV, said in a statement to news outlets at the time that “this devastating accident was a profound tragedy for the family of Dot Dobbins and the larger Germantown community. Over the past several months, Conner has been grateful for the opportunity to get to know Dot’s family personally and be able to voice his deep and sincere grief. While he is grateful that this legal chapter has concluded, he will continue to steadfastly lift her family up in prayer.”

Smith spoke about life after the accident — and his return to music and touring — in a new interview with PEOPLE. Smith admitted that following the tragedy, “I didn't care about my career or image or reputation or even how I would ever come back from this. I just really didn't care because it just didn't matter. …anything in my world was secondary to the tragedy and what the family was going through.”

“You find yourself in this moment in life where something that is so outside of your control comes and blows your house down like a tornado — and you're left in the rubble,” Smith, who previously spoke about the tragedy with with iHeartRadio's Brooke Taylor and Pastor Mark Evans on an episode of The Upload with Brooke Taylor, said later in the interview with PEOPLE. “I've just come out of a place in my life where everything was exposed to what actually mattered.”

Smith credits his family, including wife Leah, with helping him move forward from “the hardest year of our lives.” He said he’s grown and reprioritized “what matters” in life. He marked a fresh chapter with “Easy on the Eyes,” a new single that arrived on Friday (May 8), and “carries all kinds of emotions in one,” he told PEOPLE. “I know how I want my songs to be, the stories to be told and the way I want my songs to feel. I'm able just to take a deep breath again.”