Grammy-Winning Songwriter Brett James, Who Worked with Carrie Underwood, Dies at 57
The songwriter, who was inducted into the 2020 Hall of Fame, was one of three people killed in a small-engine crash close to a school in North Carolina. “Jesus, Take the Wheel” was co-written by him, and it was awarded the Grammy for Best Country Song.
Brett James, a Grammy-winning songwriter, passed away on September 19, 2025, according to an Instagram post from the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
“We lament the premature death of 2020 inductee Brett James (‘Jesus Take The Wheel’ / ‘When The Sun Goes Down’), a member of the Hall of Fame, who perished in a small-engine aircraft crash on September 18. The message said, “He was 57.”
The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame verified that James, a plane owner himself, was one of the victims of the disaster that happened close to a school in North Carolina. According to flight data, the single-engine aircraft had taken off from Nashville, and reports state that three persons were killed.
The event is presently being looked into by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration. “To the parents of students enrolled in Iotla School. The Macon County, North Carolina, Sheriff’s Office posted on Facebook that the staff and students are safe.
With a Grammy-winning songwriting career that crossed genres and decades, James established himself as one of Nashville’s titans. In addition to giving Rascal Flatts fans the well-known song “Love You Out Loud,” he co-wrote the ferocious empowerment anthem “Mr. Know It All” for Kelly Clarkson.
To help launch the country-pop crossover explosion of the 2000s and 2010s, he collaborated with Kenny Chesney on the feel-good hit “When the Sun Goes Down” and even with a young Taylor Swift on the emotionally raw “A Perfectly Good Heart.”
Despite his achievements, James’s name was cemented in music history with a single, “Jesus, Take the Wheel,” co-written with Carrie Underwood in 2005. Underwood’s post-“American Idol” superstardom was sparked by the soul-stirring ballad, which earned a Grammy for Best Country Song.
“Fortunately, a couple months after writing the song, Carrie wins ‘American Idol,’ and is going to be a country artist,” James once said. “It became something special for all of us when she premiered it at the CMA Awards. And I believe that Carrie still finds it wonderful.
There was more to the lightning-in-a-bottle partnership than meets the eye. Over the course of more than ten years, James and Underwood developed a strong creative relationship. “We’ve been so blessed by her over the years,” he continued. “[…] She’s just allowed me to get to be a part of her life.” He went on to say in a different interview, “She’s become a good friend.”
James, meanwhile, had taken a completely different route before achieving sustained success as a songwriter: a career in medicine. “The quick story is that I did a couple years of med school and got offered a record deal in Nashville,” he said.
After a miserable seven years as a music artist in Nashville, I return to medical school. And I believe that’s what I’ll accomplish in the end,” the late songwriter continued.
Unfortunately, the future celebrity experienced crippling disappointment and self-doubt during the 1990s. “I used to feel ashamed to enter my publishing company in the 1990s. He admitted, “I simply couldn’t get anything to work, and I’d lost a record deal.” “I’m kind of like, ‘Ah, this is just — this is not cool.'”
Everything changed when James became a father in the middle of a chaotic career. “After a while, you gaze at your infants and realize that you have to feed them. “It doesn’t matter how,” he said, recalling.
After losing, he went back to medical school as a sophomore at the age of thirty. Fortunately, though, there was a bright side. “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,” said James.
However, God had other ideas, and James soon achieved success in music and was able to do more than just provide for his kids. Four children now survive the Grammy winner: three sons and one daughter. He passionately guarded their privacy, yet sometimes he shared insights into the profound truths he had learned as a father.
“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 said.
And I believe she was struck by that. “I can’t expect you to be flawless, just as you can’t expect me to be flawless,” the Grammy winner added. “She basically came to me and said, ‘You are just a person that can make mistakes.'”
James was also a father and the spouse of Melody Carole, who disclosed in 2022 that they were married in August 2021.
In a heartbreaking turn of events, one of James’s final Instagram postings was a glowing Father’s Day picture of the family on a sunny deck, with laughing captured in a moment and smiles all around. The caption said, “Such an amazing Father’s Day!!” It now serves as a moving remembrance of a life well lived that was taken far too soon.
A father, a husband, and a dreamer who almost gave up but didn’t were the voices behind each line. Brett James, may you rest in peace. Heaven gained a storyteller, but the world lost a songwriter.
