George Jones [ tickets ] was breathing under his own power on Wednesday, four days after being critically injured in a single-car auto accident near his home outside of Franklin, Tennessee. The 67-year-old Country Music Hall Of Fame member was reportedly talking with his stepdaughter on a cell phone as he lost control of his car, hitting a bridge structure.

The singer was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash, and rescue workers spent nearly two hours freeing him from the wreckage.

According to local media accounts, Jones had called the head of his record label and attempted to play some new recordings on the tape deck of his Lexus SUV while driving home. The tape deck seemed to be problematic, and Jones ended that call to call his stepdaughter, Adina Estest.

While on the phone with Estest to say he was nearly home, Jones reportedly exclaimed, ''Oh, my God!'' Estest heard the impact over the phone, which stayed on after Jones was knocked unconscious. Estest told her mother, Jones' wife Nancy, what had happened, and Nancy Jones rushed to the highway Jones was travelling on. She arrived at the scene before rescue workers and accompanied her husband to the hopital.

AP reports that Jones regained consciousness on Tuesday, but is under sedation and has not spoken since being hospitalized. He is communicating with his wife by squeezing her hand. Jones suffered a ruptured liver and a collapsed lung as well as internal bleeding in the accident.