By Brett Milano

Back when she was the next big thing in the Boston rock world, Tracy Bonham seldom mentioned that she was also a classically trained pianist and violinist. “You could say I was thumbing my nose at it and rebelling,” she said this week. “I had to destroy it before I could recreate, but eventually it started edging back in. It was always a part of me that I didn’t want to let go of.”

There will be a piano onstage when Bonham returns to Boston to play the City Winery on Monday. She’ll be featuring her new album, “Sky Too Wide” which combines her trademark edgy pop with elegant classically styled melodies. The voice is still familiar, but the songs don’t avoid sounding beautiful. “A few things in my life made me want to explore that— including people always asking ‘Why are you so angry, and why do you hate your mom?’ Life is short, and if I die tomorrow I don’t want to only be remembered for bitching and moaning.”

While she’s redone some old songs, the sentiments of a new one are up to date: “Dear God Should I Hit Send” is a mini-operetta that anyone who’s sent a regrettable email can relate to. “I’ve done so many tweets and Facebook posts that I regret; that can be especially easy in the political realm. So I thought it would be funny to have someone praying for the answer. I was playing around with a Chopin piece, ‘Nocturne No.2,’ and somehow the words fell from the sky.”

She recorded the album with a jazz trio, another change from her Boston rock days. “This is a story I love because during rehearsal the bass player took me aside and said ‘You’re the bandleader, why isn’t everyone listening to you?’ That conversation impacted me greatly, and made me realize that the men I had surrounded myself with were a wee bit dismissive.”

It seems a far cry from her scream-heavy 1996 hit “Mother Mother,” but she still appreciates that song and still plays it faithfully. “It still feels like mine. That song is literally about how I communicated with my mother, when I was trying to break the pattern of not communicating in my real life and my relationships; I was trying to be more direct. So I almost used that as my theme song.”

Her major-label experience isn’t that fond a memory nowadays, since things came crashing down after a successful debut. “That era was so misleading, so much anticipation and expectation. I thought Island was a certain kind of label — they had artists like Tom Waits and PJ Harvey, and I thought I was coming into that world. But then my A&R person left and the next thing I knew they were pressuring me to write another hit, and to wear shorter skirts.”

Return visits to Boston likewise bring some good and less-good memories. “I remember how we could always go out, hit any club and know that we would see something inspiring. That’s something I love to reminisce with my friends about. But it wasn’t always easy, because there were some people who wanted to cut me down. So I just try to come back with an open mind and an open heart.”