As the name of Pat Moore’s support band The Vinyl Frontier would suggest, there’s a retro sound to this music…as in Patsy Cline and the sounds of the 60’s. Pat Moore has written most of the songs (there are three “cover” tunes) and she covers a wide range of musical influences – everything from Patsy Cline and Hank Williams, to Ray Charles – delivering the material with a vocal style not unlike fellow Canuck Cindy Church (of Quartette, etc. fame).

The album opens with the western swing tune Forgivin’ and Forgettin’ , which allows members of The Vinyl Frontier to strut their stuff; and then Pat Moore shows a mellow side with the ballad How Long. It doesn’t take long before she moves into a mid-tempo mode with Cold-Hearted Man; some great harmonies are featured on I’ll Be Your Fool ‘Til the End of My Days; and then we get treated to some hardcore country in There’s A Dark Cloud Hanging Over Me and From One Cheating Heart to Another.

The album’s title track, Take It To Heart, which is featured as the closing entry is Pat Moore’s personal tribute to a mentor, the late Ray Charles.

Also featured are three well picked “cover” tunes, Drinking Too Much, a tune written by Fred Eaglesmith with Pat Moore pours her heart and soul into; the Eddy Arnold popularized You Don’t Know Me, and the obligatory Patsy Cline number, this time it’s Strange, which has also been covered in the past by Connie Smith and more recently by Michelle Branch, now of the Wreckers Fame.

Take it to Heart was recorded at producer Al Bragg’s Skidmore Studios in Ottawa, and features Bragg on piano, steel, and dobro as well as back-up vocals, and fellow Vinyl Frontier members Pat McLaughlin on guitars, Bob Bangs (drums), and Ann Downey on stand-up bass.

“I wrote that song and thought, ‘I would love to hear Ray Charles sing this,’ “the local singer-songwriter explains. “That led to my writing a number of other songs in that style.”

Sadly, Brother Ray left us before Moore’s composition -- a track that would indeed sound at home on either of Charles’ seminal early-1960s Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music albums -- could wing its way to the legend. But the song served as a worthy starting point for Moore’s latest CD, a collection of songs that pay homage to the sound, style and feel of country pop’s golden age.

“The songs came fairly easily, once I’d decided to stay in that vein,” says Moore. “I spent a lot of my early years singing country and bluegrass, so it was like going back to my roots.”

Take it to Heart, the album, wears its Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, Patsy Cline, Eddy Arnold, Louvin Brothers and Hank Thompson influences proudly, as Moore and her band The Vinyl Frontier explore everything from heartaches-by-the-number ballads to western swing.

“I really wanted to capture the sound and feel of that era,” Moore says. “I know Ray Charles will never sing my song, but I’ll always picture him when I perform it.”

Blending solid original tunes with three covers, including Fred Eaglesmith’s discomfiting Drinking Too Much, Moore dissects pain with warmth and clear-sightedness. Her full, clear voice is enriched by often-lush backing vocals that underscore the singer’s emotional isolation.

Steel guitarist Al Bragg and standup bassist Ann Downey are among the accompanists.