David Lindley, a highly sought-after studio guitarist who played with Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Crosby & Nash, Rod Stewart, and Ry Cooder, has died. The news was confirmed to the Los Angeles Times by a source close to Lindley. A fundraiser to cover medical expenses from an undisclosed illness had been set up earlier this year. Lindley was 78.

Born in Los Angeles in 1944, Lindley came up in the 1960s LA folk scene. From 1966 to 1970, he was a founding ember of the psychedelic band Kaleidoscope, who released four albums on Epic Records. After Kaleidoscope disbanded, Lindley went to England, where he played in Terry Reid’s band. In 1972, he teamed up with Jackson Browne, playing in his band through 1980. Also during the ’70s, Lindley toured with Crosby & Nash, Linda Ronstadt (performing on Heart Like A Wheel, Prisoner In Disguise, and Simple Dreams), and James Taylor.

In 1981, Lindley formed the band El Rayo-X; Browne produced their self-titled debut album. Later in the ’80s, he toured as a solo artist, with Jordanian-American musician Hani Naser, and reggae drummer Wally Ingram.

An in-demand session musician and instrument collector, Lindley was also linked to Warren Zevon, Curtis Mayfield, Dolly Parton, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Toto, Joe Walsh, Marshall Crenshaw, Shawn Colvin, Dan Fogelberg, and Ben Harper (on 2006’s Both Sides Of The Gun) over the course of his long career. Harper even credited Lindley with influencing his own use of the slide guitar.

Lindley reunited with Browne for a 2006 tour of Spain, with those concerts being the source material for duo’s 2010 live album Love Is Strange. Lindley released his final solo album, Big Twang, in 2007. That same year, he scored the Werner Herzog documentary Encounters At The End Of The World with avant-garde guitarist Henry Kaiser.