Singled Out: Erin Duvall's 'Poor, Poor Pitiful Me' (Linda Ronstadt)

08-26-2026

Erin Duvall just released her cover of Linda Ronstadt's iconic hit "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me," that produced by Keith Thomas (Whitney Houston, Amy Grant, Mandy Moore, Selena). To celebrate we asked her to tell us about the track. Here is the story:

When I first started thinking about recording "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me," I knew one thing for certain: I didn't want to simply recreate something that had already been done so beautifully. I grew up loving artists like Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton, and so many of the women who could take a song and completely make it their own. Linda's version of this song is iconic, and I would never try to compete with that. I wanted to honor what I loved about it while finding out what the song sounded like coming from me.

I think part of what drew me to it was the humor. I've lived enough life at this point to know that sometimes you have to be able to laugh at the things that didn't go according to plan. There's something wonderfully tongue-in-cheek about "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me." It can sound like a song about everything going wrong, but there's also this incredible sense of attitude and resilience underneath it. I love that.

Working with Grammy Award-winning producer Keith Thomas gave me the freedom to really explore that side of the song. We never went into the studio trying to chase Linda's version or recreate a particular era. We just followed what felt right for my voice and the kind of music I love: country, soul, blues, gospel, and a little rock 'n' roll. Keith has an incredible instinct for knowing when to push something and when to get out of the way and let the song speak for itself. The whole process felt incredibly natural and, honestly, really fun.

This song also came along at an interesting point in my own musical story. Some of my recent releases, including "Back to Me" and "Wide Eyed Wonder," have been about healing, finding your way back to yourself, and learning to see the good again after life takes some turns you never expected. I've written and recorded a lot from that place because it's where I've been.

But eventually you get to the point where you can look back at some of those hard chapters with a little distance and think, Well... that was something. And maybe even laugh.

That's what "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me" feels like to me. It's the wink after the tears. It's realizing that resilience doesn't always have to sound serious or profound. Sometimes resilience is turning the music up, rolling the windows down, laughing at yourself, and continuing down the road.

That spirit is something I've always loved about the artists who influenced me most. Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton, Susan Tedeschi. They can break your heart in one song and make you feel ten feet tall in the next. There's grit and vulnerability, but there's also personality. That combination has always spoken to me.

More than anything, I hope people have fun with this record. I hope someone hears the opening notes, recognizes a song they've loved forever, and then discovers something a little different in my version. I hope they turn it up, sing along, and maybe think about their own "poor, poor pitiful me" moments with a little more humor.

Because if life is going to give us the stories anyway, we might as well get a good song out of them.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and learn more here