This is tough news for me, as Dan was originally from my neck of the woods (central Illinois) and was, in fact, one of my major early influences on my songwriting. I have the music books of his first three albums, and spent a lot of time working on those songs. "Part of the Plan" sticks out, as does "Nether Lands", "There's a Place In the World (For a Gambler)" (which I still do frequently), "Run for the Roses", "Loose Ends", "Winter", "The Language of Love", and "She Don't Look Back". He had his on tomes and his off times, as far as I was concerned, but he was always one of my favorite songwriters.