Great Quotations: Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner on Townes Van Zandt

“Last year I was trying to come to terms with the idea that I’m a songwriter. I’ve gotten into country music, which I never really had a connection with or understood before. But someone like Townes Van Zandt is amazing — that’s what music’s all about, when you hear something and you don’t really have a choice but to think, ‘Oh fuck, all right, I’m going there then.’ That’s what I got with his records.”

– Alex Turner (via Pitchfork)