Kenny Chesney shared a tribute to the Grammy-winning country songwriter, Brett James, who worked on many of his biggest hits, including “Out Last Night.”
“I can’t believe I’m saying it but adios Brett James,” the country star wrote. “Thank you for being a lifer, for being a shirtless, sunburned troubadour, for your friendship, your songs and all the laughs. Save me a seat at the After Party.”
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Chesney shared the post on Instagram Monday, Sept. 22, several days after James died when the plane he was piloting crashed in North Carolina. Chesney admitted he didn’t want to post anything because he “didn’t want to believe” the tragic news.
“Brett and I shared a unique bond,” he wrote. “A brotherhood. A kinship. We wrote ‘Reality’ and ‘Out Last Night’ on the same afternoon sitting on my pool deck in the Virgin Islands two days after Christmas. We had a lot of authentic life fun writing songs together over the years and I’m sure going to miss it.”
Speaking to just how prolific their partnership was, Chesney noted that half the songs in his setlist are songs James wrote or co-wrote. “So it’s impossible for me to do shows moving forward and not think about him,” Chesney said.
He added: “It’s hard to process his creative soul being gone. This kind of loss. I feel as if part of my creative soul went with him. It will be a void in my life and creativity forever. I’ve never known writing songs or being on the road without him.”
Chesney closed out his post with a few lines from 2021’s “Knowing You,” which James wrote with Adam James and Kat Higgins: “God we were so alive/I was a kid on a carnival ride/Holding my breath til the moment you were gonna leave me to soon/But I’d do it all over cause damn it was good Knowing You.”
Along with his extensive work with Chesney, James penned songs for artists like Dierks Bentley, Martina McBride, and James Aldean. His biggest achievement was Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus, Take the Wheel,” which earned him the Grammy Award for Best Country Song in 2006. James was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2020.
Underwood, in her own tribute, called James’ death “unfathomable,” adding, “Brett’s passing is leaving a hole in all of us that I fear won’t ever go away. It will forever be a reminder that this life is but a moment…we have to make the most of each day we’re given here on earth. Each day is a gift.”
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