Brett James, Grammy-Winning Songwriter, Dies in Plane Crash in North Carolina

U.S.|Brett James, Writer of Country Hits, Dies in Plane Crash in North Carolina

Brett James, a country music songwriter who wrote “Jesus, Take the Wheel” for Carrie Underwood and dozens of other hits, was killed when the small plane he was in crashed into a field in Western North Carolina on Thursday afternoon, officials said. Two other people aboard the plane also died in the crash.

The aircraft, a single-engine Cirrus SR22T, went down around 3 p.m. in Franklin, N.C., the Federal Aviation Administration said. The National Transportation Safety Board said that it was investigating the crash and that the cause was unknown.

FlightAware, a tracking website, showed that a Cirrus SR22T had stopped in a field in Franklin next to an airport at 2:56 p.m. on Thursday.

The authorities said all three people in the plane died at the scene. They including Mr. James, Melody Carole and Meryl Maxwell Wilson.

The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame said on Thursday that Mr. James, who was inducted in 2020, had died in a small-engine airplane crash. The organization said on social media that Mr. James was 57.

A plane with the same tail number as the one tracked by FlightAware was registered to a person named Brett Cornelius of Brentwood, Tenn., a Nashville suburb, according to the F.A.A. registry. Mr. James’s profile on the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame website said that he was born Brett James Cornelius.

Mr. James, who was born on June 5, 1968, in Columbia, Mo., won a Grammy Award for his work on “Jesus, Take the Wheel,” which he wrote with Hillary Lindsey and Gordie Sampson. Carrie Underwood’s recording of the song was Billboard’s top country single for six weeks in 2006. He was named ASCAP’s County Songwriter of the Year in 2006 and 2010, and wrote or co-wrote songs for other country music superstars, including Faith Hill, Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw.

He also had songwriting credits on songs for big-name pop acts, including Taylor Swift, the Backstreet Boys, Jessica Simpson and Bon Jovi.

Online, people who knew Mr. James celebrated his life and work.

“One of the best singer-songwriters in our town … total legend,” wrote the musician Dierks Bentley, who collaborated with Mr. James on the song “I Hold On.” “Our friendship and that song changed my life.”

Sara Evans, a country music artist, wrote on social media that she was “absolutely devastated” by Mr. James’s death, calling him “one of the best writers I’ve ever written with.”

The plane, which took off from John C. Tune Airport in Nashville on Thursday, flew for a little over an hour, made two loops near Macon County Airport in Franklin, and crashed just outside the runway, the FlightAware data showed. The aircraft’s speed was last recorded as 83 miles per hour, flight data showed.

The N.T.S.B. said a preliminary report on the crash was expected within 30 days.

Rylee Kirk contributed reporting.