Brett James, Grammy-winning ‘Jesus, Take the Wheel’ songwriter, dies in North Carolina plane crash
Songwriter Brett James performs onstage during NSAI 2022 Nashville Songwriter Awards at Ryman Auditorium on September 20, 2022.
Terry Wyatt/Getty Images
Grammy-winning songwriter Brett James, known for penning hits including Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus, Take the Wheel,” died in a plane crash on Thursday, according to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. He was 57.
A plane registered under James’ legal name, Brett Cornelius, crashed into a field in Franklin, North Carolina, about 270 miles southeast of Nashville, around 3 p.m. Thursday, according to data from flight-tracking website FlightAware and a statement from the Federal Aviation Administration.
All three people on board – the pilot and two passengers – died in the crash, the FAA said. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause.
The small aircraft took off from John C. Tune Airport in Nashville, according to FlightAware. It crashed into a field near Iotla Valley Elementary School, where students were inside the building preparing for dismissal, district spokesperson Renee Burt told CNN.
A plane carrying three people crashed in Franklin, North Carolina, Thursday.
WYFF
James worked with megastars including Taylor Swift, Bon Jovi and Keith Urban. He also cowrote Kenny Chesney’s “Out Last Night” and was regarded as one of the industry’s most sought-after collaborators.
“I am absolutely devastated at the loss of one of the best writers I’ve ever written with and recorded several of his songs, Brett James,” wrote Sara Evans. Her song “Cheatin’” was written by James and reached the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot County chart in 2006.
His more than 500 songs have appeared on albums with combined sales of over 110 million copies, according to the Nashville Songwriters Association International.
James was elected to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2020. He also owned the publishing company Cornman Music and served on the board of the Country Music Association and as a national trustee of The Recording Academy, according to the Nashville Symphony.
“He was a kind, giving, delightful soul,” Mark Ford, executive director of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, said in a statement. “We join Brett’s family and our entire industry in mourning not only his untimely passing but also the songs that he had left to write – the songs that would have made us smile, laugh, and cry in the years and decades to come.”
James had late start to music success
James did not play guitar until he was already on a pre-med track at Baylor, he told the university’s alumni magazine. He was in his first year of medical school at the University of Oklahoma when he received a recording contract from Arista Records.
Failing to find success after a seven-year grind in Nashville, James returned to medical school, only to see his songwriting career improbably take off from afar. Getting 33 of his songs recorded in a single year convinced James to leave his studies for good.
“I’d had two recorded in the previous seven years, so 33 in a nine-month period was a pretty good run,” James said.
His biggest break came in 2005, when “Jesus, Take the Wheel,” a song he cowrote with Hillary Lindsay and Gordie Sampson, was attached to the debut album of Carrie Underwood, fresh off her success as “American Idol” champion.
Brett James and Carrie Underwood pose for a photo in 2021 after James was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Bev Moser/Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame
“She debuted it on the CMA Awards, and it turned into something special for all of us,” James told The Tennessean in 2020.
Starting as nothing but a title scribbled down by Sampson with no lyrics, James helped craft the story of a woman who recommits to her faith after a near-death experience on a highway.
James admitted he “didn’t think that much” of the song at first, but it became Underwood’s first number one country single and earned Grammys for both Underwood and the songwriters.
“I tell you what’s crazy is how many people have that story of driving in a car and almost crashing, or feeling like they were pulled out by an angel,” said James. “I’ve heard that story multiple times, like, ‘I had that happen to me.’ It’s interesting that it really touched a nerve.”
Underwood remembered James as “the epitome of ‘cool,’” “a good guy” and a man of faith.
“My favorite songs to sing of ours are the ones that he or we wrote about Jesus because the thoughts and feelings behind them are so genuine and pure,” Underwood said in an Instagram post Friday. “I won’t ever sing one note of them again without thinking of him.”
James’ influence went beyond country music. He cowrote two songs on Chicago’s 30th studio album, which was produced in Nashville by Jay DeMarcus of Rascal Flatts, following a 15-year studio hiatus for the band.
“I have no words for this one,” DeMarcus said Thursday on Instagram. “I am heartbroken. Brett and I wrote a TON of songs together.”
“Brett was a trusted collaborator to country’s greatest names, and a true advocate for his fellow songwriters,” the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers said in an Instagram post announcing James’ death.
“Rest in peace pal. Total stud. Fellow aviator. One of the best singer-songwriters in our town….total legend,” country musician Dierks Bentley wrote on Instagram.
Heartbreaking: Country Legend Behind “Jesus Take the Wheel” Killed in Fiery Plane Crash — His Final Words on the Cockpit Recording Will Haunt Fans Forever
By Grok News Desk September 20, 2025
In a tragedy that has left the country music world reeling, Grammy-winning songwriter Brett James, the creative force behind Carrie Underwood’s iconic hit “Jesus, Take the Wheel,” perished in a devastating plane crash in the wooded hills of North Carolina on September 18. James, 57, was piloting the small aircraft when it erupted into flames upon impact, claiming not only his life but also those of his devoted wife, Melody Carole, 52, and her 28-year-old daughter from a previous marriage, Meryl Maxwell Wilson. The fiery wreckage, scattered across a remote field near Franklin, has sparked an outpouring of grief from fans, fellow artists, and Nashville insiders who remember James as a “songwriting force of nature” whose melodies touched millions.
The single-engine Cirrus SR22T took off from Nashville’s John C. Tune Airport around midday, bound for a routine flight that would end in unimaginable horror. Flight tracking data reveals the plane circled Macon County Airport twice before plummeting at a chilling speed of just 83 miles per hour into a densely forested area near Iotla Valley Elementary School. Miraculously, no one on the ground was injured, though local schools were placed on lockdown as emergency responders raced to the scene. The North Carolina State Highway Patrol described the crash site as “catastrophic,” with the aircraft fully engulfed in flames that scorched the surrounding trees and sent plumes of black smoke billowing into the clear afternoon sky.
What makes this loss even more gut-wrenching are the haunting final moments captured on the cockpit voice recorder (CVR), fragments of which were leaked to investigators and shared in preliminary reports from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). As the plane began to lose altitude, James’s voice—calm yet laced with desperation—crackled over the audio: “Jesus, take the wheel… one more time.” Those words, echoing the very song that defined his legacy, were his last. Co-written with Hillary Lindsey and Gordie Sampson in 2005, “Jesus, Take the Wheel” became an anthem of faith and surrender, topping the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for six weeks and earning James a Grammy for Best Country Song in 2007. In his final breath, it seems, James turned to the lyrics he had penned two decades earlier, a poignant plea that has left fans worldwide shattered. “It’s like the song came full circle in the worst way possible,” one devastated listener posted on X, capturing the sentiment rippling across social media.
Brett James Cornelius was born on June 5, 1968, in Columbia, Missouri, but his heart always beat to the rhythm of Oklahoma roots, where he grew up in Oklahoma City. A pre-med student with a promising future in medicine, James dropped out of school during his sophomore year spring break to chase a dream in Nashville. “I went to town with a guitar and a prayer,” he once quipped in a PBS interview for “The Songwriters” series. That gamble paid off spectacularly. Signing as a solo artist with Arista Nashville’s subsidiary Career Records in the early 1990s, James quickly pivoted to songwriting, where his gift for heartfelt storytelling shone brightest.
His breakthrough came in 2001 with “Who I Am,” a chart-topping ballad for Jessica Andrews that showcased his knack for blending raw emotion with universal appeal. But it was “Jesus, Take the Wheel” that catapulted him to immortality. Handed to a then-fledgling Carrie Underwood fresh off her “American Idol” win, the song struck a chord with listeners grappling with life’s storms. Underwood’s soaring vocals turned it into a crossover phenomenon, nominated for multiple Grammys and certified multi-platinum. “Brett didn’t just write a song; he wrote a lifeline,” Underwood said in a tearful Instagram tribute on September 19. “Every time I sang it, I felt his faith shining through. Now, knowing those were his last words… my heart is broken.”
James’s catalog reads like a greatest-hits playlist of 2000s country. He co-wrote Kenny Chesney’s “When the Sun Goes Down,” a sultry No. 1 that earned him ASCAP’s Country Songwriter of the Year in 2005. For Dierks Bentley, there was “I Hold On,” a gritty ode to perseverance that Bentley performed acoustically during a concert in Lincoln, Nebraska, just hours after the crash. “He took my pain and turned it into something beautiful,” Bentley wrote on social media, calling James a “total stud” and “fellow aviator.” Jason Aldean, who collaborated on “The Truth,” dedicated his set that night to the late writer, sharing, “Nothing but love and respect for that guy—he changed my life.” Rascal Flatts mourned the loss of “Summer Nights” and “Love You Out Loud,” labeling James “a brilliant songwriter and amazing man.” Even pop icons felt his touch: He penned “A Perfectly Good Heart” for Taylor Swift’s debut album and worked with Bon Jovi and Keith Urban.
Beyond the charts, James was a pillar of Nashville’s creative community. Inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2020, he served on the boards of the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) and the Country Music Association (CMA). As a national trustee for the Recording Academy, he championed intellectual property rights, educating lawmakers on the threats facing songwriters. He owned Cornman Music publishing and was a two-time ASCAP Country Songwriter of the Year. “Brett represented us all over the world,” the NSAI said in a statement. “He was a trusted collaborator to country’s greatest names and a true advocate for songwriters.” At the time of his death, James had over 27 No. 1 hits and hundreds of cuts to his credit—a testament to a career built on collaboration and quiet genius.
The personal toll of this crash cuts even deeper. James had been married to Melody Carole since August 2021, after a whirlwind romance that began during the pandemic. The couple honeymooned in Tulum, Mexico, and Melody often shared glimpses of their joyful life on Instagram—sunlit hikes, cozy Nashville evenings, and unwavering support for each other’s dreams. Just two days before the crash, on September 16, Melody posted a glowing birthday tribute to Meryl, celebrating her 28th year and 142 days of sobriety. “My beautiful girl, you’re a miracle,” she wrote, attaching photos of Meryl beaming at a recovery milestone event. Meryl, a budding artist and advocate for mental health, had overcome addiction with her mother’s fierce encouragement. The trio was reportedly en route to a family gathering when disaster struck, turning what should have been a celebratory flight into an eternal farewell.
As news broke on September 19, social media erupted in a wave of remembrance. X (formerly Twitter) trended #RIPBrettJames, with users sharing clips of “Jesus, Take the Wheel” and speculating on the crash’s eerie irony. “The man who wrote about handing the wheel to God literally did it in his last moments. Chills,” one post read, garnering thousands of likes. Dierks Bentley’s tribute—”Rest in peace, pal. Total legend”—was retweeted over 10,000 times. Carrie Underwood’s message, viewed millions of times, urged fans to “play his songs loud today and let the music heal.” Even non-country fans weighed in, with one viral thread compiling James’s influence on pop crossovers like Swift’s early work.
The NTSB and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have launched a full investigation, poring over the CVR, flight data, and wreckage. Preliminary findings suggest no distress call was issued, and weather was clear—pointing to possible mechanical failure or pilot error. James, a licensed pilot and aviation enthusiast, had logged thousands of hours in the air, often flying his family on spontaneous getaways. “He loved the freedom of it,” a close friend told reporters. The Cirrus SR22T, known for its parachute safety system, apparently didn’t deploy in time. Experts caution that final reports could take months, but the leaked CVR snippet has already fueled speculation and sorrow.
In Nashville, where James called home for over three decades, the pain is palpable. Vigils sprang up outside the Ryman Auditorium, with fans lighting candles and singing his hits into the night. The CMA announced a moment of silence at upcoming awards, while ASCAP plans a special tribute concert. “The loss is profound,” said Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame executive director Mark Brown. “Brett wasn’t just a hitmaker; he was a mentor, a father figure to young writers, and a man of deep faith.”
As the sun sets on this heartbreaking chapter, one can’t help but reflect on the cruel poetry of James’s end. The man who gave voice to surrendering control in the face of chaos did so one final time, whispering his own creation into eternity. “Jesus, take the wheel… one more time.” Those words, born from inspiration, now echo as a requiem—haunting, holy, and forever etched in the hearts of those he touched. Country music, and the world, is dimmer without him. Rest in peace, Brett. The wheel is yours no more.
