A pair of worship leaders from Austin, TX, J.R. Taylor and Jerry Wise (aka, TaylorWise) are certainly no strangers to the music scene. Taylor has gone on tour as Geoff Moore's guitarist and has done production for bands like Styx, while Wise has received Dove Award nominations for his work on some children's records. As leaders of two separate churches in Austin, Texas, the two have come together as TaylorWise to release their full-length album Restore Us. TaylorWise incorporate a bit of southern rock into their songs, keeping their sound close to home. Appropriately so, as one could imagine hearing any of the songs on the tracklist being played at either of their churches any Sunday morning. In addition to the southern sound, there's also some funk in "As For Me," and a whole lot of contemporary throughout the rest. The songs are all worshipful and filled with genuine love for Jesus, which is enough to make Restore Us good for most fans of worship bands. The production is also rather impressive, giving each of the songs a nice clear sound. Despite the sincerity in the worship, the songs are really simple for the most part, lyrically and musically. So those wanting to dig deeper in their worship experience won't find what they're looking for here. But fans of the sounds of contemporary worship bands will find a new artist to love in TaylorWise.

- Review date: 4/13/10, written by Scott Fryberger of Jesusfreakhideout.com