You don’t have to tell Derek Trucks that 2017 has flat out sucked. He’s lived it. In a new interview with CTNow.com, Trucks expands on the current situation with bandmate Kofi Burbridge as well as his memories of Gregg Allman, Butch Trucks and Col. Bruce Hampton. 

Trucks says Burbridge is finally out of the hospital and home. “I really thought we lost him,” Trucks said. “It was a rough 26 hours, but he’s patched back together.” The guitarist accurately stated that Burbridge’s successful recovery “is some of the first real good news we’ve had” after adding “it’s been a bitch of a year.” 

The conversation then moved into the many deaths that have plagued Trucks, his family and his musical family. “You can’t unpack that stuff,” Trucks said of Butch’s death earlier this year. “It’s unresolved forever.” As for Col. Bruce, Trucks called him “probably the biggest musical mentor for me and my brother Duane. Losing Bruce was like losing a family member, for sure.” 

While Trucks noted that Allman’s passing “was a bit expected” the timing of it “made it feel a bit unbearable.” He continued, “When Gregg goes, it makes you relive all the people in that camp that you’ve lost over the years.” 

The rest of the interview is a cathartic, almost therapeutic look into the memories Trucks holds of those he’s lost this year as well as how he views his role as a mentor to younger musicians and the state of Tedeschi Trucks Band.