Jason Aldean Opens Up About How Newborn Son Memphis Helped Him After the Las Vegas Shooting

It’s been a difficult few months for Jason Aldean, but one shining beacon of light has helped him see the good: his son Memphis.

The country musician was performing at the Route 91 Harvest Festival across from the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on Oct. 1 when a gunman started shooting into the crowd from the hotel, killing 58 people and injuring 489.

Following the arrival of his son exactly two months later, Aldean opened up to SiriusXM’s The Highway about how he’s moving forward.

“One of the things that helped me, personally, was the birth of my son,” the “Lights Come On” singer, 40, told the radio show. “That gave me a chance to focus on something else.”

Want all the latest pregnancy and birth announcements, plus celebrity mom blogs? Click here to get those and more in the PEOPLE Babies newsletter.

RELATED VIDEO: Jason Aldean and Brittany Kerr Welcome First Child

For more coverage, follow our babies magazine on Flipboard.

“Within a couple months, I saw the worst thing you could possibly experience, and then I saw the best thing you could possibly experience, with him being born,” says the new dad of three, who also has two daughters — 10-year-old Kendyl and 14-year-old Keeley — from a previous marriage.

“So it gave me something else to focus on, and gave me a reason to look forward to the new year,” explains Aldean. “Getting the chance to get back out there and do what it is that I love to do.”

And getting back into the music game, he is. Aldean just released his newest single, “You Make It Easy,” and announced his next album — titled Rearview Town — will be available April 13.

Adds the musician of his experience in the wake of the harrowing incident, “It definitely took me a little time to wrap my head around it, and I needed some downtime to step away from it a little bit and get home.”