North Carolina Plane Crash: Grammy-Winning Songwriter Brett James Among Three Killed

Grammy Award-winning songwriter Brett James was among three people killed in a plane crash in North Carolina on Thursday, September 18. James was on board a Cirrus SR22T aircraft flying from Nashville, Tennessee, when it crashed in Macon County around 3 p.m.

According to FlightAware data, the aircraft was registered to James, whose full name was Brett James Cornelius. The crash occurred in a field near a school in Franklin, North Carolina. The National Transportation Safety Board has launched an investigation.

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Visuals From Plane Crash Site in North Carolina

#BREAKING : Plane crash in Macon County kills three, including songwriter Brett James.

Country music songwriter Brett James was one of three people killed in a small-engine plane crash in North Carolina on Thursday (Sept. 18).

The 57-year-old is most closely associated with… pic.twitter.com/rDvH2Y8och

— upuknews (@upuknews1) September 19, 2025

The Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) issued a statement expressing grief: “The NSAI family is stunned by the death of board member and legendary songwriter Brett James.” Three people were on board at the time of the crash.

Who Was Brett James?

James initially pursued a career in medicine but left school to follow his passion for music, releasing his first solo album in 1995. He went on to write for artists such as Billy Ray Cyrus and Kenny Chesney, achieving his first of 26 No. 1 singles in 2001 with Jessica Andrews’ hit Who I Am.

Over his career, James wrote more than 300 songs for major labels, including Jesus, Take the Wheel, which won the Grammy Award for Best Country Song. In 2020, he was announced as an inductee into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and celebrated with I Am Now, his first self-written album in over two decades. He was officially inducted at the 2021 ceremony after a pandemic delay.