We’re Going Home

As a youngster in Yucaipa, California, Sonia Shell discovered the banjo. Today, she’s a sought-after musician and in-demand instructor on the California scene.   Shell’s fine new album serves as a “how-to” of sorts. She clearly enjoys the public domain classics, uses them in her instruction and has included a fair number of them here as well. 

She turns in an eerie, fast-paced rendition of the murder ballad “Pretty Polly,” which she’s embellished with some original lyrics. There’s also a cool, bluesy reprise of “Saint James Infirmary,” a rowdy take on “Arkansas Traveler,” a sprightly outing on a trilogy of “Waltzing Matilda’/Yellow Bird/Farewell Blues” and a jazzy take on “I Could Have Danced All Night.”

There’s also a masterful instrumental reworking of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” and a delightfully rambling Merle Haggard oldie, which she reinvents as “Workin’ Woman Blues.” The collection closes with the title tune, a love lullaby she wrote for her children.

Throughout, Shell gets able assists from seasoned and equally accomplished California musicians like Jim Lewin (guitar), Sarah Eblen (bass), Johnny Campbell (fiddle), Jesse Appleman (mandolin), Leeanne Welch (fiddle), Kim Elking (mandolin) Dana Frankel (fiddle) and Hide Kawatsure (mandolin).