Overview

• Local media reported that all three people on board died in the Thursday crash.
• The single-engine Cirrus SR22T had departed Nashville’s John C. Tune Airport and went down near Iotla Valley Elementary School in Franklin, North Carolina.
• Reports said students and staff at the nearby school were unhurt.
• James, 57, was a 2020 Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee with 27 No. 1 country hits, including the Grammy-winning “Jesus Take the Wheel.”
• Artists posted condolences on social media, including Sara Evans, who lauded his work and mourned the loss.