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Brett James' last Instagram posts celebrated fatherhood and family. The country music star credited with writing hit tracks Jesus Take the Wheel and When the Sun Goes Down perished alongside his wife, Melody Carole, and stepdaughter, Meryl Maxwell Wilson, in a September 18, 2025, plane crash.
People on a backyard deck surrounded the 57-year-old songwriter in his last post on Instagram. James captioned the image shared on June 16, 2025:
"Such an amazing Father's Day!!"
Prior to that, Brett James had posted a selfie with his wife, Sara, on a beach. In the photo, Sara, in a black bralette and matching Sunnies, has her arm around her husband, who isn’t wearing a shirt but covers his eyes with tinted shades. Brett also reminisced about his visit to the Bahamas with his wife and family. He wrote:
“So much fun with my love in the Bahamas.”
More details on Brett James Cornelius' tragic death alongside his wife and stepdaughter
Brett James Cornelius departed from John C Tune Airport in Nashville at 12:41 pm on Friday in his private plane, and about two hours later, it crashed in an open field West of Lotla Valley Elementary School, killing all three passengers.
A statement from the Federal Aviation Administration described the plane as an SR22T whilst also revealing that all passengers died. It added that the National Transportation Safety Board will be investigating the unfortunate incident:
"A Cirrus SR22T crashed in a field in Franklin, North Carolina, around 3 p.m. local time on Thursday, Sept. 18. Three people were on board. The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate. The NTSB will be in charge of the investigation and will provide further updates."
Brett James was elected into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2020 and was named ASCAP’s Country Songwriter of the Year. The talented artist had also sat on the Country Music Association and Recording Academy boards. He owned Cornman Music, a publishing company and has written hits for Bon Jovi, Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood.
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Fans and colleagues have continued to send tributes to the country music icon.
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