In addition to playing the timeless classics of Country Music Veterans like George Strait, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash and Conway Twitty, the band also keeps the dance floor moving to covers of Brooks & Dunn, Jack Ingram, and many more contemporary chart-topping artists. It’s also just as likely that you’ll here something by Chris Isaak, Tom Petty, or the Beatles……Now the party is just getting started! From “Play That Funky Music” to “Brick House” to rockin’ songs from Van Halen to ZZ Top, you will definitely hear and see why it’s so easy to become a Chris Rivers fan!
A current song list is available online at www.riverscountry.com
“I started singing in church back in Louisiana when I was 6 years old, and in musicals and weddings. Even though I attended college on vocal scholarships and was classically trained in opera at LSU and UTA, I’ve always worked the clubs—I just love to sing for an audience.” Along the way, “Rivers” (as everyone calls him these days) has also received numerous awards—including the Honky-Tonk Hero’s “Songwriter of the Year” and the prestigious Terry Awards “Dallas Band of the Year” and “Entertainer of the Year”. Now Rivers and the band are based out of the Dallas area and are the “House Band” at the World-Famous Gilley’s Dallas.
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Born on the border of Deep South Texas and Mexico, he started playing bass in Hawaii while in the Navy as a photographer. Also a veteran of the beach bars and honky-tonks of Texas, Craig did double duty as bassist and part-time road manager for Trisha Yearwood on her inaugural tour as opening act for Garth Brooks. Subsequent tours with Garth and other acts fulfilled his lifelong dream of “making it to the Big Time”, and now he’s planted roots in the Metroplex to make great music with Rivers, launch a wildly successful music store and spend time with family.
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Music has always been a part of Roger’s life. “I grew up in a home filled with instruments and musicians. My father and his brothers played western swing and were major label artists on Decca and Columbia Records. My Grandfather wrote the hymn ‘Love Lifted Me’, so it was only natural I learned to play too.” Roger played music for several years with his dad, eventually leading him to a full-time gig with Charley Pride. Today, Roger continues to amaze and inspire people with his drumming and vocal skills. “Being a part of this band is a blast AND we get to be the official house band at Gilley’s Dallas—who could ask for more?”
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Born and raised in the Dallas area, Bryan has played guitar in bands since high school covering rock, jazz, blues, country, and everything in between. Working the Southwest bar circuit, he’s opened shows for George Strait, Keith Whitley, Steve Wariner, T. Graham Brown and many more. In recent years, he’s worked as a sound engineer mixing monitors for artists from Burt Bacharach to Dread Zepplin to the Dixie Chicks. Since joining the Gilley’s lineup with Rivers, he says, “What a great opportunity to play with some great guys in a great venue!”
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A former Concert Master of the Tulsa Youth Symphony Orchestra and Arkansas Regional Chamber Orchestra, Shannon has been playing professionally since age 15. She has also been a member of the National Youth Symphony Orchestra and Waco Symphony Orchestra, and interned with the Eastern Music Festival and Eastern Philharmonic Orchestra. A graduate of Baylor University in 2006, Shannon now teaches violin at Lifesong Studios. Of her first time to join up with a “Texas Honky-Tonk” band, Shannon says, “Getting to play a new style of music is as much fun as it is a challenge. Music is a universal language—I just have to get used to the drawl in the dialect!”
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