Rising river in US city wanting attention (5)
I believe the answer is:
needy
'wanting attention' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'rising river in us city' is the wordplay.
'rising' says the letters should be written backwards (going up in a down clue).
'river' becomes 'dee' (River Dee).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'us city' becomes 'ny' (I've seen this in other clues**).
'dee' backwards is 'eed'.
'eed' going within 'ny' is 'NEEDY'.
(Other definitions for needy that I've seen before include "Distressed" , "Wanting attention" , "Craving attention" , "Impecunious" , "badly craving affection" .)