Bedford’s Chris Rivers has just released his second effort, New Meaning to Lonesome, a CD that thankfully continues the singer’s old-school devotion to hardcore honky-tonk of the Haggard/Jennings variety.

Eschewing mullet and trenchcoat, Rivers makes country music the old-fashioned way: with more fiddle and less bombast. For going on two years now, he and his band have been the house performers at Gilley’s--an experience that's helped shape the act into a tight, cohesive, collection of hayseeds.

Check out the reflective ballad “She Draws them Together" (available for download on Rivers' Myspace page) or the rockabilly-tinged "Trail of Broken Hearts" (available for download later in this post) for proof that Rivers might indeed be DFW's own Dwight Yoakum.

Catch Rivers headlining at Gilley’s this coming Friday. --Darryl Smyers

Bonus mp3: