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Grammy Award-winning songwriter Brett James, who wrote some of the biggest country music hits of the past two decades, died Thursday in a plane crash. He was 57.<\/p>\n
Mr. James was one of three people on board a Cirrus SR22T plane that crashed in a field in Franklin, North Carolina, on Thursday afternoon; the local Fox TV station reported<\/a> the plane was registered to Mr. James. The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed the crash and said it will investigate alongside the National Transportation Safety Board.<\/p>\n \u201cToday we mourn the tragic loss of a Music Row giant. \u2026 He achieved heights that few songwriters in our town have ever seen,\u201d Lee Thomas Miller, Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) president, said in a statement. \u201cHe represented the Nashville songwriting community all over the world, performing his hits as well as educating fans and lawmakers about the threats to intellectual property. \u2026 NSAI and country music are better because of Brett. He will be missed more than I can even begin to say.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBrett was a trusted collaborator to country\u2019s greatest names, and a true advocate for his fellow songwriters,\u201d read<\/a> a statement from ASCAP, the performance rights organization that honored Mr. James twice as country songwriter of the year. \u201cThank you for your unforgettable music.\u201d<\/p>\n The news stunned the country music industry, where Mr. James worked for three decades. Born in Columbia, Missouri, on June 5, 1968, Brett James Cornelius graduated from Baylor University and went to the University of Oklahoma for medical school before dropping out to pursue a career in Nashville. He released some of his own songs in the 1990s but found much greater success writing for other artists, racking up 27 No. 1 hits on the country chart and helping launch new singers to stardom. Eventually he started his own publishing company, Cornman Music.<\/p>\n One of Mr. James\u2019s biggest career moments was \u201cJesus, Take the Wheel,\u201d which he wrote with Hillary Lindsey and Gordie Sampson. He once told<\/a> CMT that when Sampson came up with the idea, he thought it was \u201cabout the silliest idea I\u2019d ever heard,\u201d picturing Jesus driving a Toyota or pickup truck. They all laughed, but then realized it could offer a powerful message about faith. Carrie Underwood<\/a> recorded the song after she won \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d in 2005; it stayed at No. 1 for six weeks and won two Grammy Awards, including for best country song.<\/p>\n Mr. James co-wrote several huge hits for Kenny Chesney, including \u201cWhen the Sun Goes Down,\u201d \u201cYou Save Me\u201d and \u201cKeg in the Closet.\u201d Mr. James was a well-liked regular at writers\u2019 rounds, where songwriters share the stories behind their songs, in Nashville and beyond, traveling far to promote country music and awareness of the songwriting craft. He loved to tell the story<\/a> behind Chesney\u2019s \u201cOut Last Night,\u201d which started when he was celebrating Christmas with his kids and received an impromptu call from Chesney inviting him to his home in the U.S. Virgin Islands to write songs. The track, released in 2009, went No. 1 on the country charts and hit No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100.<\/p>\n He was instrumental in crafting early hits for breakout country singers, such as Jessica Andrews\u2019s \u201cWho I Am\u201d in 2000, which he wrote with his frequent collaborator Troy Verges. (He and Verges also worked with a teenage Taylor Swift when she first arrived in Nashville on \u201cA Perfectly Good Heart,\u201d which appeared on the deluxe version of her multiplatinum debut album.) He produced Kip Moore\u2019s 2012 debut record that spawned three No. 1 singles. Josh Gracin, a former \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d contestant who had several country hits, posted on Facebook on Friday that Mr. James helped him shape his first album in 2004, and co-wrote two of his most successful songs, \u201cI Want to Live\u201d and \u201cStay With Me (Brass Bed).\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAt the time, I was struggling to connect with the songs being pitched for my first record until I was introduced to Brett\u2019s writing,\u201d Gracin wrote<\/a>. \u201cHis belief in me and the songs he allowed me to record helped carve out a space for me in country music.\u201d<\/p>\n Social media was filled with similar missives from country stars. Some of Mr. James\u2019s other hits included Dierks Bentley\u2019s \u201cI Hold On\u201d; Jason Aldean\u2019s \u201cThe Truth\u201d; Martina McBride\u2019s \u201cBlessed\u201d; and Chris Young\u2019s \u201cThe Man I Want To Be.\u201d He co-wrote \u201cSummer Nights\u201d and \u201cLove You Out Loud\u201d for Rascal Flatts, who praised him on Friday as \u201ca brilliant songwriter and amazing man.\u201d<\/p>\n Information on Mr. James\u2019s surviving family was not immediately available.<\/p>\n In November 2021, he was officially inducted<\/a> into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame \u2014 as part of the class of 2020, with the celebration delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic \u2014 and Underwood showed up to sing \u201cJesus, Take the Wheel\u201d as a tribute.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n