Brett James, Grammy-Winning Hall of Fame Songwriter for Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, Kenny Chesney, Dead in Plane Crash

Photo Credit: Brett James by D. Myles Cullen for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff / CC by 2.0

Brett James, the Grammy-winning songwriter behind some of country’s biggest hits, was one of three people killed in a plane crash on Thursday.

Grammy-winner and Hall of Fame songwriter Brett James, who wrote some of country’s biggest contemporary hits such as “Jesus, Take the Wheel,” was killed in a plane crash in North Carolina on Thursday. He was 57.

James was one of three people aboard a single-engine Cirrus SR22T aircraft, which departed from John C. Tune Airport in Nashville before crashing into an open field near Iotla Valley Elementary School in Franklin, North Carolina. All three occupants inside the plane were killed; the identities of the other two victims were not disclosed.

No students or staff at the school, which is located adjacent to the Macon County Airport, were injured in the crash.

Flight records reveal the plane was registered to James, under his legal name, Brett Cornelius, out of Brentwood, Tennessee. The plane was scheduled to take off for the 250-mile flight at 1:15 PM, but didn’t depart from Nashville until after 1:40 PM. The plane crashed in the field just before 3 PM.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.

James became one of the biggest songwriters in country music in the 2000s and early 2010s. He penned hits like Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus, Take the Wheel,” Taylor Swift’s “A Perfectly Good Heart,” Rascal Flatts’ “Summer Nights,” Brantley Gilbert’s “Bottoms Up,” and Dierks Bentley’s “I Hold On.”

“Rest in peace, pal,” said Bentley, mourning James’ passing on Thursday night. “Total stud. Fellow aviator. One of the best singer-songwriters in our town… total legend.”

James wrote a total of 27 #1 country hits and also worked with stars like Kenny Chesney, Jason Aldean, and Tim McGraw. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hal of Fame in 2020.

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