James (centre) was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2021. Photo / Getty Images
“Brett was a trusted collaborator to country’s greatest names, and a true advocate for his fellow songwriters,” read a statement from ASCAP, the performance rights organisation that honoured James twice as country songwriter of the year. “Thank you for your unforgettable music.”
The news stunned the country music industry, where James worked for three decades. A 1991 Baylor University graduate, he went to the University of Oklahoma for medical school but dropped out to pursue a career in Nashville.
He released some of his own songs in the 1990s but found much greater success writing for other artists, racking up 27 No. 1 hits and helping launch new country singers to stardom. Eventually he started his own publishing company, Cornman Music.
One of James’ biggest career moments was Jesus, Take the Wheel, which he wrote with Hillary Lindsey and Gordie Sampson. He once told CMT that when Sampson came up with the idea, he thought it was “about the silliest idea I’d ever heard”, picturing Jesus driving a Toyota or pickup truck. They all laughed, but then realised it could offer a powerful message about faith.
Carrie Underwood recorded the song after she won American Idol in 2005; it stayed at No. 1 for six weeks and won two Grammy Awards, including for best country song.
He wrote 27 No. 1 hits, including Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus, Take the Wheel”. Photo / Getty Images
James co-wrote several huge hits for Kenny Chesney, including When the Sun Goes Down, You Save Me and Keg in the Closet.
James was a well-liked regular at writers’ rounds, where songwriters share the stories behind their songs, in Nashville and beyond, travelling far to promote country music and awareness of the songwriting craft.
He loved to tell the story behind Chesney’s Out Last Night, which started when he was celebrating Christmas with his kids and received an impromptu call from Chesney inviting him to his home in the US Virgin Islands to write songs. The track, released in 2009, went No. 1 on the country charts and hit No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100.
He was instrumental in crafting early hits for breakout country singers, such as Jessica Andrews’ Who I Am in 2000, which he wrote with his frequent collaborator Troy Verges. (He and Verges also worked with a teenage Taylor Swift when she first arrived in Nashville on A Perfectly Good Heart, which appeared on the deluxe version of her multiplatinum debut album.)
He produced Kip Moore’s 2012 debut record that spawned three No. 1 singles.
Josh Gracin, a former American Idol contestant who had several country hits, posted on Facebook on Friday that James helped him shape his first album in 2004, and co-wrote two of his most successful songs, I Want to Live and Stay With Me (Brass Bed).
“At the time, I was struggling to connect with the songs being pitched for my first record until I was introduced to Brett’s writing,” Gracin wrote. “His belief in me and the songs he allowed me to record helped carve out a space for me in country music.”
Social media was filled with similar missives from country stars. Some of James’ other hits included Dierks Bentley’s I Hold On; Jason Aldean’s The Truth; Martina McBride’s Blessed; and Chris Young’s The Man I Want To Be. He co-wrote Summer Nights and Love You Out Loud for Rascal Flatts, who praised him on Friday as “a brilliant songwriter and amazing man”.
In November 2021, he was officially inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame – as part of the class of 2020, with the celebration delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic – and Underwood showed up to sing Jesus, Take the Wheel as a tribute.
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