A 2020 Hall of Fame inductee, the songwriter was one of three killed in a small-engine crash near a North Carolina school. He co-wrote “Jesus, Take the Wheel” and won a Grammy for Best Country Song.
On September 19, 2025, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame announced the death of Grammy-award-winning songwriter Brett James via Instagram.
Brett James, Hillary Lindsey, and Gordie Sampson at the Grammy Awards on February 11, 2007, in Los Angeles, California. | Source: Getty Images
“We mourn the untimely loss of Hall of Fame member Brett James (‘Jesus Take The Wheel’ / ‘When The Sun Goes Down’), a 2020 inductee who was killed in a small-engine airplane crash on Sept. 18. He was 57,” the post read.
The crash occurred near a school in North Carolina, and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame confirmed James, a plane owner himself, was among the victims. Reports indicate that three people lost their lives, and flight data shows the single-engine plane had departed from Nashville.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are currently investigating the incident. “To the parents that have children that attend Iotla school. The students, and staff are safe,” Macon County NC Sheriff’s Office shared on Facebook.
With a Grammy-award-winning songwriting career that spanned decades and genres, James carved out a place among the giants of Nashville. He co-wrote the fiery empowerment anthem “Mr. Know It All” for Kelly Clarkson and gave Rascal Flatts fans the beloved ballad “Love You Out Loud.”
He joined forces with Kenny Chesney on the feel-good favorite “When the Sun Goes Down,” and even worked with a young Taylor Swift on the emotionally raw “A Perfectly Good Heart” — all songs that helped usher in the country-pop crossover explosion of the 2000s and 2010s.
Brett James and Carrie Underwood during the 43rd Annual ASCAP Country Music Awards in Nashville, Tennessee, 2003. | Source: Getty Images
Yet for all his success, James’s name became truly etched in music history with one monumental hit — Carrie Underwood’s breakout single “Jesus, Take the Wheel,” co-written in 2005. The soul-stirring ballad won a Grammy for Best Country Song and became the rocket that launched Underwood’s post–”American Idol” superstardom.
“Fortunately, a couple months after writing the song, Carrie wins ‘American Idol,’ and is going to be a country artist,” James once recalled. “She debuted it on the CMA Awards and it turned into something special for all of us. And it’s still, I think, still special to Carrie.”
Carrie Underwood and Brett James during the ACM Lifting Lives Music Camp Recording Session event at Starstruck Studios on June 29, 2011, in Nashville, Tennessee. | Source: Getty Images
The lightning-in-a-bottle collaboration wasn’t just a one-hit wonder. James and Underwood went on to share a powerful creative bond that lasted more than a decade. “We’ve been so blessed by her over the years,” he said. “[…] She’s just allowed me to get to be a part of her life.” In another interview, he added, “She’s become a good friend.”
However, before finding long-term success as a songwriter, James had pursued a very different path — one in medicine. “The quick story is that I did a couple years of med school and got offered a record deal in Nashville,” he shared.
“I come to Nashville, fail miserably as a recording artist for about seven years, and go back to med school. And I think that’s what I’m going to end up doing,” the late songwriter added.
Sadly, the 1990s were a time of crushing disappointment and self-doubt for the future star. “There was a time in the ’90s where I was embarrassed to walk into my publishing company. […] I just couldn’t get anything working, and I’d lost a record deal,” he confessed. “I’m kind of like, ‘Ah, this is just — this is not cool.'”
Brett James at the Grammy U Fall Kick-Off event on October 8, 2013, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. | Source: Getty Images
In the midst of career chaos, James became a father, and everything changed. “At some point, you look at your babies and go, ‘I got to feed these kids. It doesn’t matter how,'” he reminisced.
Defeated, he returned to medical school as a 30-year-old sophomore. However, thankfully, there was a silver lining. “At least I know I’m going to be able to feed my kids and that that’s, you know, at some point when you’re a dad, that’s all that matters in the world,” James shared.
But God had other plans, and soon, musical success followed, and James did more than just feed his children. The Grammy winner is now survived by four kids — three sons and one daughter. Though he fiercely protected their privacy, he occasionally offered glimpses into the deep personal lessons fatherhood had brought him.
“There was a time when my daughter and I were going through some stuff, and I remember her talking to a friend who told her, ‘Your dad is just a person who just happens to be older than you,'” he revealed.
“And I think that hit her. She basically came to me and said, ‘You are just a person that can make mistakes and I can’t expect you to be perfect just as much as you can’t expect me to be perfect,'” the Grammy winner continued.
In addition to being a father, James was married to Melody Carole, who revealed in 2022 that they had tied the knot in August 2021.
Then, in a heart-wrenching twist, one of James’s last Instagram posts was a radiant Father’s Day photo of the family together on a sunny deck — smiles all around, laughter frozen in time. “Such an amazing Father’s Day!!” the caption read. Now, it stands as a poignant reminder of a life well-lived and gone too soon.
Behind every lyric was a father, a husband, and a dreamer who nearly gave up — but didn’t. Rest in peace, Brett James. The world may have lost a songwriter, but heaven gained a storyteller.
