Brett James’ Last Posts Tell of Love Before Tragedy

19 September 2025

Brett James in Nashville in May 2013. Rick Diamond/Getty

Grammy-winning songwriter Brett James, 57, died in a plane crash near Franklin, North Carolina on September 18, 2025. With him were his wife Melody Carole Wilson, 59, and her daughter Meryl Maxwell Wilson, 28. Harrowing as the end was, his final Instagram posts painted a picture of a man deeply rooted in family and affection.

In the months before the crash he posted a glowing snapshot on Father’s Day, June 16, capturing laughter among loved ones on a backyard deck. His caption read “Such an amazing Father’s Day!!” It’s hard now not to see that image as part of a farewell. Not long before that he shared another post, a beach selfie with his wife in the Bahamas, a sun-soaked moment that celebrated both love and serenity. Those photos feel all the more precious now.

One of the most poignant recent celebrations involved Meryl, who had just marked her 28th birthday. Her mother, Melody, posted tributes, photos, and heartfelt words about being “so blessed” to have Meryl’s presence, calling her “beautiful inside and out.” The birthday came just possibly a day before the fatal flight. The timing has made this birthday post especially bittersweet for family and fans.

The plane involved was a Cirrus SR22T owned by Brett James. It departed from John C. Tune Airport in Nashville around midday. Roughly two hours later it crashed near Iotla Valley Elementary School in Franklin. Local reports and the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that the crash claimed all on board, with no survivors.

James had a storied career as a songwriter. He wrote or co-wrote songs like “Jesus, Take the Wheel”, “When the Sun Goes Down”, “Telluride”, and many others for Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley, and more. He was twice ASCAP Country Songwriter of the Year and was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2020. To many in the country music community this loss feels like losing a piece of the fabric that tied together so many voices and stories.

Tributes poured in quickly. Country singers, collaborators, and friends reflected on his kindness, his generosity with songwriting credits, and the way he carried his faith and humility along with his success. Carrie Underwood in particular shared memories going back many years the way he insisted on fair credit, the way he showed up not just as a well-known musician but as a generous colleague.

The Instagram posts that now feel like messages from a quieter time showed neither prescience nor dramatics. They were simple but full of warmth: vacations, birthdays, shared meals, Father’s Day. How he held his family close, how he celebrated ordinary moments with love. In them there’s no hint of disaster, only living.

For many fans social media has become a mirror of life, showing both the big moments and the small. Brett James’ last public posts are reminders that momentary peace, joy, love those are what people often remember most. In those brief, sunny, intimate snapshots there is grace.

His death is tragic. His wife and stepdaughter are gone too. But there is comfort in what he chose to share in his final months. As friends and fans reflect on the songs he wrote, the stories he helped tell, many will also return to those Instagram posts not to mourn alone but to feel what was evident in his life: that love and family are at the center, always. These last images are now part of his legacy.