Brittany Howard quotes:

My favorite guitar players are Chuck Berry and Brian May and Dave Davies from the Kinks.

Oh, man, I love the Staple Singers. I love Pop Staples' guitar playing, too. He's one of my favorite guitar players.

I have a terrible lifestyle. And I don't really see it changing. Maybe in 10 years I'll see it differently - I'll want to see my great-grandchildren and live forever. But right now, young Brittany is not setting things up for old Brittany. And young Brittany does not care.

We're from Athens, Alabama. That's my town. People think it's Muscle Shoals, but they have no idea. It's a quiet, sleepy little town, about 45 minutes from Muscle Shoals. It's really hard to be a band in Athens; there are no venues.

I'm just really impressed by oil paintings - I don't see how people do it! That's the style I like: classic oil paintings. Abstract art just isn't my thing.

I always felt out of place. I wasn't a cool kid, but I wasn't a nerd, either. I had trouble finding my place. But when I found the music, I had a place of my own.

People hear a powerful female singer in a rock and roll band, and they say, 'Janis Joplin.' I think people just make that comparison because it's easy. But I don't think I sound like her at all.

We had a music teacher in sixth grade, and I saw her tune her guitar. I said, 'Whoa. There's a certain way to do this.' I bought a packet of strings - some of mine were broken - and had her tune it for me. For a while, I just kept it like that. But I got the Internet finally, when I was 14, and started learning.

I'm homesick all the time. I miss my animals. I miss my family. I miss my friends.

I've had some terrible jobs, but working in a kitchen at Cracker Barrel is probably the worst I've ever had. I was a grill cook - awful! It wasn't the smell, it was the people. The music, too. We had to be 'country fresh,' so they played this terrible country music eight hours during the shift. It was a bleak existence - a very dark time.

A song like 'Heartbreaker,' it's a song about learning - it's not necessarily a song about heartbreak. It's more than that. We write those songs to relive how we got over something.

An important part of being in a band is the rhythm section.

Songwriting is like talking to yourself when there is no one to talk to,

I don't care what you're playing. You can be playing EDM music. Well, guess what? That came out in the early '80s. There's no way to be original. All you can do is put yourself into it and do the best you can.

Freddie Mercury inspired me when I was young.

I drink a ton of water a day and try to get as much sleep as possible. Sleep is the best way to restore your health. Never skip on sleep; it's crazy important.

When I picture England, I picture little gardens and beautiful yards. I don't really like cities; I like to go and see things like that.

By the time I'm 35, I'll probably want to have a family. I'd be happy doing that, teaching my kids to do the right things, to do good things.

My dream was to not work for anyone. There's only so many things I was good at - and how am I not going to work for anyone? I just don't want people telling me what to do.

The first time I learned how to play, my guitar was out of tune. I didn't know it; I just started writing songs.

For whatever reason, whenever I'm having a get-together, I'll turn on my projector and play YouTube videos of 'Russian driving fails.' Russians all have dashboard cameras in their cars, so there are all these videos of crazy wrecks and people almost getting hit in the street. It's a conversation starter, for sure.

Where I'm from, we don't do the kiss-on-the-cheek thing. Sometimes we can feel a bit awkward in England. Someone needs to let me know what the rules are because I don't want to be rude. I need a little more etiquette coaching.

Contacts would bother me. I'm just not that used to them. I think glasses are a great accessory.

For my band's debut tour in 2011, we road-tripped across the country in a 15-passenger van. It was the first time I'd left Alabama. I drove through scenery I'd only ever seen in calendars: auburn leaves falling in Vermont, the sun setting over purple mountains in Arizona. It was incredible.

I don't think I sound like Janis Joplin. I'm a woman with a raspy voice.

One of my favorite things about Tom Waits is not only his songs, but when he does do live shows, it's the theatrics involved. It's like Kabuki theater, really old-fashioned theatrics. Like, standing on top of a piece of plywood lying on some cinderblocks and clapping his hands, banging on a bucket.

I probably bring four dresses on the road and rotate those. I always wear something light when I go onstage because I move around a whole lot. It's a sweaty business.

To me, if you're a musician, then you're interested in music, and if you're interested in music, then you should listen to a lot of different types.

It'll help you be imaginative if you listen to classical music. It helps you understand dynamics and how important they are to create an environment.

You play with the audience, and they play back with you. They get into it, and then everybody gets into it. I don't want to be like a monkey on stage and just go through the motions because then it wouldn't be fun anymore. I just pay attention to the audience and appreciate the fact that somebody wants to see us. That gets me psyched.

I'm not that flashy in private; I'm usually pretty reserved. But on stage, it's about not being afraid of anything - of anyone judging you. It's one place you can be free. So why not sing as loud as you can, hoop and holler and jump around? A show is a moment. When it's done, it's over. I find that extremely liberating.

The biggest lie in the world is in answer to the question, 'How are you?' People usually say, 'I'm fine,' but that's mostly bull. Everyone wants to display being perfect. They tell themselves and their friends, 'I drive this car, I own this house, I'm fine.' People ball up into these tight wads of repression.

I once had this massacred afro in third grade. Parts were bigger than others. It was just terrible.

Even if nobody cared, I'm still gonna make music.

When stuff gets hard, and you're feeling real down about everything or in a cark space, a song can bring you out of it.

I was a strange kid. I'm still strange. People didn't get me. And I didn't expect them to.

When I was a child I accidentally made a chemical bomb. I also ate my grandfather's heart pills. I got my stomach pumped for that one. I got over that so by the time I hit my teens I was kind of mild. Now I'm like an old lady who occasionally parties real hard.