Country Music Legend Brett James Dies in Tragic Plane Crash

2025-09-19 06:00:10.836

Grammy Award-winning country music songwriter Brett James, best known for writing Carrie Underwood's "Jesus Take the Wheel," died in a plane crash in North Carolina on Thursday. James, 57, was one of three people aboard a single-engine Cirrus SR22T that departed from John C. Tune Airport in Nashville before crashing near Iotla Valley Elementary School in Franklin, NC. All occupants were killed. No students or staff were injured. James was a renowned songwriter of the 2000s and early 2010s, with hits for artists including Brantley Gilbert, Rascal Flatts, Bon Jovi, Kenny Chesney, Jason Aldean, Tim McGraw, and Underwood. He wrote 27 number-one country hits, including Underwood's "Jesus Take the Wheel," which won a Grammy. James, inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2020, also penned Dierks Bentley's "I Hold On." Bentley mourned James, calling him a "total legend" and crediting him for shaping "I Hold On."