Grammy Award-winning country music songwriter Brett James, best known for writing Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus Take the Wheel,” was killed in a plane crash in North Carolina on Thursday.

James, 57, was one of three people aboard a single-engine Cirrus SR22T that had departed from John C. Tune Airport in Nashville before it crashed into an open field near Iotla Valley Elementary School in Macon County, killing all occupants, according to WTVF.

The school is located adjacent to Macon County Airport and surrounded by fields.

Songwriter Brett James appears on a panel at the 8th Annual ASCAP “I Create Music” EXPO in Hollywood, Calif. on April 20, 2013. Brian Dowling/Invision/AP

No students or staff at the school were injured in the crash.

James was one of the most renowned country music son

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