Nashville songwriter Brett James, 57, was killed Thursday when the Cirrus SR22T he was aboard crashed west of Iotla Valley Elementary School in Franklin, North Carolina, around 3 p.m., authorities said. The plane departed Nashville, Tennessee, around 12:41 p.m. and carried two other passengers, all of whom were killed. There were no injuries on the ground at the nearby elementary school, Macon County officials said.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board said they are investigating the crash's cause.
James was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2020. The two-time ASCAP Country Songwriter of the Year wrote or helped write songs for country stars including Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean and Taylor Swift. His work includes Underwood's Jesus, Take the Wheel and Aldean's The Truth. He also produced records and served on the boards of the Country Music Association and the Recording Academy. James owned Cornman Music, a publishing company.
Born June 5, 1968, in Columbia, Missouri, James initially planned to pursue a career in medicine. He left medical school to pursue music, signing with Arista Nashville's Career Records imprint as a solo artist and releasing his first solo album in 1995. He earned his first number-one hit six years later with Jessica Andrews' Who I Am.
Following the news, fellow singers and songwriters shared tributes on social media. Sara Evans wrote that she was devastated at the loss of one of the best writers she had written with and recorded several of his songs, adding that James will be greatly missed. Fellow songwriter Jessi Alexander recalled "many fun nights on stage" and said Music Row will never be the same. ASCAP mourned the loss, calling James a trusted collaborator and advocate for songwriters.
James had more than 800 of his songs recorded by country and non-country artists alike, including the Backstreet Boys, Bon Jovi and Nick Jonas, according to Music Mayhem Magazine. The broader impact of his work extended beyond chart positions, as he helped shape the sound of contemporary country music for generations of artists and listeners alike.