It's a sad day for country music fans. Grammy Award winning songwriter Brett James has died. The musician passed away after his plane crashed in North Carolina early Thursday.
James entertained fans with hits such as "Jesus Take The Wheel" and "I Hold On." According to WTVF, James had been on a single-engine Cirrus SR22T aircraft with two other people. The plane left John C. Tune Airport in Nashville. It then crashed in a field near Iotla Valley Elementary School. Sadly, there were no survivors.
Brett James Dies
The plane belonged to James, according to flight records. The songwriter had been a mainstay in the country music industry, releasing his own album in 1995. As a songwriter, he partnered with Carrie Underwood, Billy Ray Cyrus, Martina McBride, and Kenny Chesney. Songs included Taylor Swift's "A Perfectly Good Heart," Brantley Gilbert's "Bottoms Up" and Rascal Flatts' "Summer Nights."
Throughout his career, James had 27 No.1 hits on the radio. In 2020, he entered the Nashville Songwriters Hall Of Fame.
Following his passing, collaborator Dierks Bentley mourned his death, calling him a leend.
"Rest in peace pal," Bentley said. "Total stud. Fellow aviator. One of the best singer-songwriters in our town....total legend."
He credited James with making his song "I Hold On" what it ultimately became.
"I brought a couple of roughly sketched verse ideas of I Hold On to Brett after my dad died and he just did his thing. The chorus is all him. When I sing that song live, I'm always thinking of my dad, but I also think about that day we wrote it. He just got it, just lit into it. It was one of the first times we wrote and I decided to drop the most meaningful and necessary idea of a song I had on him, because I felt like God was telling me to do so. Our friendship and that song changed my life. Prayers for his family," Bentley said.
Country music fans everywhere will be saddened by the loss of the musician. What exactly caused the plane crash remains under investigation.
