If you've got tickets for tonight's second show by The Rankins, be prepared for a shock -- because now they rock!

Okay, before any longtime fans of the Cape Breton family unit get their fiddles in a twist and start thinking these east coast idols have gone hard core, don't worry -- the changes are subtle if stunning.

But what a jammed NAC Opera audience saw last night was an already super-eclectic performing unit adding some depth and edge to a show that's been winning over audiences for years.

For just under two hours the multi-Juno Award winners had the crowd buzzing as they sang, stepdanced and played their way through a myriad of favourites like Roving Gypsy Boy, Movin' On and North Country.

What took this usually standard set to another level were the edgy sounds the Rankins pulled from their latest disc, Uprooted. With opener and electric guitarist Gordie Sampson adding some hard-nosed guitar, many of the Rankin Family classics took on a new life. It wasn't that they'd overhauled the sound it just had more oomph.

The music wasn't the only thing that has spilled over from Uprooted. Last night, the group's vocal work was the strongest we've ever heard from them.

There is more confidence, more assurance. Add that to the fact the Uprooted sound sees all four singers approaching their work with more diversity, and the overall effect is a more personal one.

You could feel their pride as the Rankins peppered the show with a bevy of material from the new disc.

Cookie's shimmering gospel treatment of One Day I Walk was spectacular. Then they'd turn around with Raylene offering the misty Gaelic overtones of The Happy Isle and Heather taking a joyous bash at the contemporary Long Way To Go.

This was an evening to appreciate the ever-present fun side of the Rankins but also to realize this celebrated Canadian group keeps getting better with every show.

Sampson's short set before the Rankins took the stage spotlighted a new voice that's ready to break wide open, a Canadian who sings with the emotion of Van Morrison.

Watch out, he's the real deal.