Brett James, ‘Jesus, Take the Wheel’ Writer, Dead at 57 in Plane Crash

Brett James, the Grammy-winning country songwriter behind hits like Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus, Take the Wheel” and Kenny Chesney’s “Out Last Night,” died Thursday when the plane he was piloting crashed in North Carolina. The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, which inducted James in 2020, confirmed his death in a Facebook post. He was 57.

James was reportedly piloting a Cirrus SR22T plane, which took off from Nashville’s John C. Tune Airport Thursday afternoon before crashing in North Carolina.

While James’ biggest achievement was Underwood’s “Jesus, Take the Wheel,” which won him the Grammy Award for Best Country Song in 2006, the Nashville songwriter was responsible for some of the genre’s most recognizable and enduring radio hits. He co-wrote Kenny Chesney’s “When the Sun Goes Down,” Dierks Bentley’s “I Hold On,” Martina McBride’s “Blessed,” and Jason Aldean’s “The Truth,” among many others, and was regarded as one of Music City’s most sough-after collaborators.

“I always say there’s two ways to grow old as a songwriter,” James told PBS’s The Songwriters series earlier this year. “One way is to sit with a young 18-year-old or 19-year-old and think you know everything…. And the other is to listen, and the other is to learn. What I’m trying to do every day now, is to soak up the brilliance of the young kids that I am fortunate enough to work with and then sprinkle in whatever experience and knowledge that I have.”

Born Brett James Cornelius on June 5, 1968, in Columbia, Missouri, James was raised in Oklahoma and, after earning a degree at Baylor University in Texas, attended medical school at the University of Oklahoma before dropping out to move to Nashville in 1992 and pursue music. James released his debut album in 1995 and had modest success as a solo artist, but it was his songwriting for other Nashville artists that gave him his award-winning career.

He scored his first Number One song in 2001 with “Who I Am,” recorded by Jessica Andrews, and went on to land a total of 27 country chart-toppers, including McBride’s “Blessed,” Chesney’s “Out Last Night,” Underwood’s “Cowboy Casanova,” Bentley’s “I Hold On,” and Chris Young’s “The Man I Want to Be.” He also wrote songs for artists outside of Nashville, like Bon Jovi, Backstreet Boys, the Fray, and Daughtry.

Bentley, who is also a pilot, remembered his “I Hold On” collaborator in a social media post. “Fellow aviator. One of the best singer-songwriters in our town…total legend,” he wrote. “Our friendship and that song changed my life.”

But it’s “Jesus, Take the Wheel,” cowritten with Hillary Lindsey and Gordie Sampson, that stands as James’ signature. A song about a young mother who loses control of her car while driving on Christmas Eve and throws her fate into God’s hands, it became a song of faith and trust and resonated with fans across genres, crossing over to the Hot 100.

Along with winning the Grammy for Best Country Song, it was named 2005 Single of the Year by the Academy of Country Music, Country Song of the Year by the performing-rights organization ASCAP in 2006, and the 2006 Song of the Year by the National Songwriters Association International.

“That was a great day, obviously,” James told The Tennessean in 2020 of writing the song. “We showed up like all songwriters do at the crack of 11:00. We just talked about life for about the first hour or so like all songwriters do. And then it was finally time to write a song today.

“I tell you what’s crazy is how many people have that story of driving in a car and almost crashing, or feeling like they were pulled out by an angel,” James continued. “It’s interesting that it really touched a nerve. So, it’s been a true blessing.”