{"id":157534,"date":"2025-09-20T18:22:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T18:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/157534\/"},"modified":"2025-09-20T18:22:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T18:22:10","slug":"grammy-winning-songwriter-brett-james-dies-in-plane-crash-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/157534\/","title":{"rendered":"Grammy-winning songwriter Brett James dies in plane crash – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

Grammy award-winning country songwriter Brett James<\/a> died in a plane crash<\/a> in North Carolina, authorities said Friday. He was 57.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The small plane with three people aboard crashed Thursday afternoon \u201cunder unknown circumstances\u201d in the woods in Franklin, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a preliminary report.<\/p>\n

There were no survivors, the North Carolina State Highway Patrol said in a statement. The other two people on the plane were Melody Carole and Meryl Maxwell Wilson, the patrol confirmed.<\/p>\n

The plane had taken off from John C. Tune airport in Nashville. The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board said they will investigate the crash.<\/p>\n

James was on a Cirrus SR22T, which was registered to him under his legal name of Brett James Cornelius, according to information provided by the FAA<\/a>. It is not yet known if James was the pilot.<\/p>\n

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James, known for songs like Jesus, Take the Wheel by Carrie Underwood<\/a> and\u00a0When the Sun Goes Down\u00a0by Kenny Chesney<\/a>, was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2020.<\/p>\n

The organization posted a statement online<\/a>, mourning the songwriter after news of his death spread.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe mourn the untimely loss of Hall of Fame member Brett James, a 2020 inductee who was killed in a small-engine airplane crash on Sept. 18. He was 57,\u201d the organization wrote.<\/p>\n

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) also took to social media to remember James, writing, \u201cWe\u2019re mourning the loss of Brett James, co-writer of Jesus, Take the Wheel & When the Sun Goes Down and a 2-time ASCAP Country Songwriter of the Year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBrett was a trusted collaborator to country\u2019s greatest names, and a true advocate for his fellow songwriters. Brett, your ASCAP family misses you dearly. Thank you for your unforgettable music,\u201d the statement concluded.<\/p>\n

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Country singer Dierks Bentley<\/a> called James \u201cone of the best singer-songwriters in our town\u201d and a \u201ctotal legend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI brought a couple of roughy [sic] sketched verse ideas of I Hold On to Brett after my dad died and he just did his thing. The chorus is all him,\u201d Bentley wrote. \u201cWhen I sing that song live, I\u2019m always thinking of my dad, but I also think about that day we wrote it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur friendship and that song changed my life. Prayers for his family,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Underwood said that James was \u201cthe epitome of cool’\u201d in a post dedicated to him on Instagram.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI see him in my mind riding up to my cabins to write on his motorcycle\u2026his hair somehow perfectly coiffed despite being under a helmet for however long,\u201d she wrote. \u201cI always loved hearing him sing Cowboy Casanova because a sassy girl anthem should\u2019ve sounded ridiculous coming from a macho dude like him, but somehow, he even made that cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cBrett\u2019s passing is leaving a hole in all of us that I fear won\u2019t ever go away. It will forever be a reminder that this life is but a moment\u2026we have to make the most of each day we\u2019re given here on earth. Each day is a gift,\u201d Underwood added. \u201cI\u2019m asking all of you to pray for his family, friends and all of us that were blessed enough to know Brett.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cLove you, man. I\u2019ll see you again someday,\u201d her post concluded.<\/p>\n

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Jason Aldean<\/a> said he was \u201cheartbroken to hear of the loss of my friend Brett James.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI had nothing but love and respect for that guy and he helped change my life. Honored to have met him and worked with him. Thoughts and prayers going out to his family,\u201d Aldean added.<\/p>\n

Country band Rascal Flatts<\/a> said they were sending their \u201cheartfelt condolences\u201d to James\u2019 family.<\/p>\n

\u201cA brilliant songwriter and amazing man. He was the pen behind\u00a0Summer Nights,\u00a0Love You out Loud, and countless songs we\u2019ve all sang along too [sic]. He will be greatly missed,\u201d the band added.<\/p>\n

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James had more than 500 of his songs recorded, for albums with combined sales of more than 110 million copies, according to his Grand Ole Opry biography online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014With files from The Associated Press<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t&copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Grammy award-winning country songwriter Brett James died in a plane crash in North Carolina, authorities said Friday. He…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157535,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[82481,49,48,75,82482,79078],"class_list":["post-157534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-brett-james","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-fatal-plane-crash","tag-plane-crash"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}