After making waves with other Celtic-leaning East Coast musicians Natalie MacMaster and Great Big Sea during the 1990s, the Rankin Family decided to disband in 1999 after a hugely successful, decade-long run.

Now, following a widely acclaimed reunion jaunt in 2007, Cape Breton's Rankin Family -- Cookie, Heather, Raylene and Jimmy -- is back with a new studio album, These Are The Moments.

Both Heather and Raylene say the new effort was a bit of a departure for the group.

"There are six new tunes on this recording that were not previously recorded by us, and some of them were written by people outside of the group," Raylene says. "I think you can hear an evolution in the sound with this album. At the beginning it was kind of hard to envision that, but now that it's done it seems like it's totally where we should have gone with this."

"I agree, Raylene," Heather adds. "Before, we always sat together and would hammer out the songs. With this record we all came together, got into the studio and started playing. We had a very small window of time to get it done."

While the album contains remixes of signature songs Fare Thee Well Love and Rise Again, the sisters say sorting through the new material was not an arduous process.

"We went through a bunch of material," Raylene says. "Often times we'd be doing that as we were driving to and from Cape Breton during the summer and in the spring. The one (song) that struck me when I heard it first, and it has carried on with this feeling, is Never Alone. That's the one that hits me in a certain spot every time I hear it."

But Heather also says having those two staples on the record seemed to serve two purposes: Being anchors for These Are The Moments, and also giving people a hopeful message in dealing with the current unnerving economic climate.

"When we decided to go with songs that were inspirational, Rise Again is one of those songs," she says. "It has a positive reaction and it's a song people respond to when they're going through hard times. If you look at the times we're living in right now, it's very fitting. I don't see how we could have not put it on."

"Did you just say a double negative?" Raylene quips. "I didn't notice that you didn't say a double negative."

Grammatical corrections aside, the Rankin Family is gearing up for a cross-Canada tour, which kicks off in Penticton, B.C., tomorrow, one day after releasing These Are The Moments.

The tour stops in Kelowna (Thursday), Richmond (Friday and Saturday), Kamloops (Sunday), Banff (Monday), Calgary (Feb. 11-12), Edmonton (Feb. 13), Regina (Feb. 14), Saskatoon (Feb. 15), Winnipeg (Feb. 16), Thunder Bay (Feb. 17), Sault Ste. Marie (Feb. 18), Orillia/Casino Rama (Feb. 20-21), London (Feb. 22), Kingston (Feb. 23), Ottawa (Feb. 24), Montreal (Feb. 25), Sydney (Feb. 27) and Halifax (Feb. 28).

Heather and Raylene say the tour will feature a good portion of the new album, as well as older staples.

Sadly, the Rankin Family knows it's not the same and extremely bittersweet without John Morris Rankin performing with them. The highly talented instrumentalist and brother died in January 2000 in Cape Breton after his vehicle collided with a pile of road salt and plunged over a cliff.

"Absolutely, it's a big void, not to mention the personal loss, but creatively," Heather says.

"One producer we once worked with said John Morris was the musical conscience," Raylene says. "So with him not with us, we really have to pull up our socks and do our work. We always depended on him to crack the whip."