Dustin Lynch Remembers Late Songwriter Brett James As A Mentor, Friend, And Inspiration

The Nashville songwriting community is mourning a great loss today after learning of the passing of Brett Cornelius, best known as Brett James, a celebrated hitmaker whose songs shaped the sound of country music stars over the years. His passing has sparked an outpouring of sadness across Music City, with many artists reflecting on his lasting impact. Among them is Dustin Lynch, who remembers working alongside James and credits him as an inspiration both personally and professionally.

While acknowledging the sadness of the news, Lynch also took time to highlight the joy of their shared memories while speaking with Country Now.

“I was just thinking this morning I want to dig back into my song log, my catalog, and see. We’ve had a couple songs, I believe, recorded released by other artists through the years. I just want to see what all we’ve done,” Lynch shared.

He went on to credit James for being a “cool presence on Music Row for so many years in the publishing world,” recalling how the veteran songwriter took a chance on him when he was still finding his place as a young songwriter. Beyond music, the Tennessee native noted that James, who was also a pilot, helped inspire him to take up flying himself.

“[He] took a chance on a young songwriter, which was me early on to try and sit down and write songs. But that also inspired me to pick up flying. So it was really special. And he’s been a part of a couple events that I’ve hosted and just been a great dude.”

Lynch is now promising to keep James legacy and memory alive within his shows. One way he plans to do this is by performing a song from his catalog titled “Honky Tonk Heartbreaker,” which he revealed gives a subtle shoutout to Brett James in the lyrics.

“Fun fact that I’ve never talked about, but I will here, so in ‘Honky Tonk Heartbreaker,’ there’s a line called ‘Two Step Brett’ and it’s the guy that comes in, cuts in and takes the girl away from me on the dance floor. And that was inspired by Brett James just because when I was writing that lyric, I’m like, man, who would be really good on the dance tour that you wouldn’t think but is the dude? And I was like, it’s Brett James. So it’s definitely a Two Step Brett. That’s how that lyric happened. So it’s going to be cool to have him in the show tonight and just think about him,” Lynch explained.

Brett James, GRAMMY-winning songwriter, passed away on Thursday, September 18 following a small plane crash that killed all three people on board, including the 57-year-old. FlightAware data reveals the Cirrus SR22T plane took off from John C. Tune Airport in Nashville at 12:41 p.m. (CDT) before it crashed in North Carolina.

James was a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. He is credited for writing hundreds of hit country songs, including major cuts by Carrie Underwood (“Jesus, Take The Wheel”, “Cowboy Casanova”), “Kenny Chesney (“When The Sun Goes Down”, “Out Last Night,” “Keg In the Closet”), Dierks Bentley (“I Hold On”), Jason Aldean (“The Truth”), and Rascal Flatts (“Summer Nights”).   

Looking back on James’ life and legacy, Dustin Lynch shared that while the loss is painful, there’s some comfort in knowing that James passed doing something he loves.

“So yeah, it’s just one of those days where it’s heavy,” he added.