Daniel "Danny Kootch" Kortchmar (born April 6, 1946) is an American guitarist, session musician, producer and songwriter.

In Taylor's autobiographical composition "Fire and Rain", the line "sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground" is a reference to the breakup of that band.

The group subsequently broke up but Kortchmar continued backing King on her more successful solo career, including the groundbreaking 1971 album Tapestry.

The self-titled album Attitudes included Kortchmar's "Honey Don't Leave L.A.", which James Taylor also recorded.

He wrote music for the Cheech & Chong film Up in Smoke and he also produced recordings by Don Henley,[2] Neil Young, Jon Bon Jovi, Stevie Nicks, Billy Joel, Hanson, Tracy Chapman, Louise Goffin and others.

He played Ronnie Pudding, the band's bass player in their early years, in the "Gimme Some Money" video segment.

In 1996, Kortchmar formed the group Slo Leak, playing primarily blues rock, and released an eponymous album.

[7] Kortchmar was brought aboard to produce Van Halen's abandoned second album with former Extreme singer Gary Cherone in 1999.

[11] In 2010, Kortchmar joined the Troubadour Reunion Tour supporting James Taylor and Carole King along with Section bandmates Lee Sklar and Russ Kunkel.