Songwriter Dennis Linde, 63, whose credits include Elvis Presley's "Burning Love," Garth Brooks' "Callin' Baton Rouge" and the Dixie Chicks' "Goodbye Earl," died Friday (Dec. 22) at a Nashville hospital after battling idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a lung disease. A native of Abilene, Texas, Linde's songwriting success began in the early '70s after Roger Miller recorded "Tom Green County Fair" and Roy Drusky scored a Top 10 hit with "Long Long Texas Road." Linde also wrote hits for Mark Chesnutt ("Bubba Shot the Jukebox," "It Sure Is Monday"), Joe Diffie ("John Deere Green"), Alan Jackson ("The Talkin' Song Repair Blues"), Sammy Kershaw ("Queen of My Double Wide Trailer"), Eddy Raven ("In a Letter to You"), Shenandoah ("Janie Baker's Love Slave") and Don Williams ("Then It's Love," "Walkin' a Broken Heart"). A reclusive figure who rarely attended awards ceremonies or other music industry events, he was elected to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001 and was named songwriter of the year by the Nashville Songwriters Association in 1993 and BMI in 1994. As a recording artist in the '70s, Linde released albums on the Intrepid, Elektra, Asylum and Monument labels.