Haley Reinhart finished in 3rd place on the 10th season of American Idol, impressing viewers and voters with her sexy, gravelly vocals and Mama-Cass-meets-Stevie-Nicks sensibility.

Since her run on Idol, Reinhart has released four studio and has collaborated with Jeff Goldblum on his debut release The Capital Studio Sessions. She has also achieved viral success as a collaborator with Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox, a musical collective known for re-imagining contemporary pop songs in vintage styles. The collective’s spine-tingling, music-box rendition of Radiohead’s ‘Creep’, with Reinhart on vocals, is the most watched video on their YouTube channel.

Reinhart’s latest single is a cover of the classic ‘Piece of My Heart’, written by Burt Berns and Jerry Ragovoy and originally recorded by Erma Franklin in 1967. The song was Franklin’s breakthrough hit, though her version was outsold the following year when Big Brother and the Holding Company (led by Janis Joplin) released their grungier rendition. ‘Piece of My Heart’ has been widely covered, with versions from Bettye LaVette, Faith Hill, Beverley Knight, and an exhilarating live duet between Melissa Etheridge and Joss Stone.

Taking the song in a slower and sparser vein than the original, Reinhart’s vocal is teasing, even sultry, at the beginning. There’s a hint of 60s’ psychedelia as she delivers that opening verse, as if dazed by the sheer audacity of her lover’s deceit and infidelity. As the electric guitar gets hotter, Reinhart amps up the angst and lays into her rasp. She gives a fine, Joplin-inspired wail at 3.44.

Image copyright: Reinhart Records