Chris Lane finds his ‘Fix’ in return to Strand | CCMF 2016

Performing in Myrtle Beach always brings a vacation and familiar turf for Chris Lane.

The native of Kernersville, N.C. – between Winston-Salem and Greensboro – commands a focus on the charts to start summer, with “Fix” ascending into the top 15. Lane will play Sunday on the final day of the second annual Carolina County Music Fest in Myrtle Beach. His set is scheduled among such artists as Cole Swindell and A Thousand Horses, before Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard – better known respectively as Florida Georgia Line – close the extravaganza.

For several years, Lane has opened concerts at House of Blues in North Myrlte Beach for stars including FGL, Jerrrod Niemann, and Sumter’s own Lee Brice. He also has done various gigs at The Boathouse Waterway Bar & Grill, along the Intracoastal Waterway, just west of Myrtle Beach.

A Grand Strand visit also “is just one of things,” Lane said by phone in mid-May, after “I grew up going to Myrtle Beach” on family getaways.

“At that point in my life,” he said, “my life had no involvement with playing music; just sports: football and baseball.”

He said that after playing shortstop for many years, he switched to center field as a 49er for the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, to ease up pressure on his ankles after recoveries from anterior cruciate ligament surgeries, and Major League aspirations shifted to music, starting with a guitar. His identical twin brother and athlete, Cory, also took up drums, carrying that career for a tandem on stage today.

Chris Lane said he was looking forward to playing June 7 in the 26th annual City of Hope Celebrity Softball Game in Nashville. He said the lineup included another fellow Tar Heel Stater, Scotty McCreery – who pitched in high school before attending N.C. State University in Raleigh.

Realizing the rough spell continuing for his favorite pro team, the Atlanta Braves, Lane calls himself more a football fan, with “die-hard” excitement for the Carolina Panthers that has not ebbed since their loss in February in the Super Bowl.

Fans who watch Lane’s video for “Fix” – also the name of his newly released six-track EP by Big Loud Records and sold with two bonus songs on a CD at Target stores – might feel revved up. The setting, with a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro at an airplane hangar in Smyrna, Tenn., includes shots of model Cheyenne McCann in many spots, appearing and disappearing.

“She definitely made that video a whole lot better,” Lane said, noting although he and she did share many scenes together, but they each go in and out of the sequences, to fit with the song’s romantic angle.

Walk to Opry’s wooden circle intrigues

Lane made his debut in Music City’s Grand Ole Opry in February, welcomed by Bill Anderson.

“That walk to the middle of that wooden circle,” Lane said of the 6-foot spot moved from the Opry’s original home in the Ryman Auditorium, “I will never forget. ... I just played there for the second time, this past Saturday night [May 21]. ...

“It wasn’t that long ago I took a tour there, not ever knowing at that moment that I would one day be on the same stage, playing music.”

Lane will join Kelsea Ballerini as opening acts this summer on Rascal Flatts’ “Rhythm & Roots Tour,” which will play pavilions on June 17 in Charlotte – which he views as “basically a hometown show for me” – and June 18 in Raleigh.

He said loves how Ballerini’s “on fire right now,” and that “back when I was in college, which was not long ago, I was buying tickets to Rascal Flatts concerts.”

In November, Lane and Granger Smith will open for Florida Georgia Line in November across Canada’s three westernmost provinces.

Thinking about his first full-length album, Lane said he was finishing some studio time last month, to round up the right mix of selections, probably for “about 11-12 songs,” with hopes for late summer on the next step, “and we’ll see what happens from there.”

A decision on how to start the next week after the Carolina Country Music Fest was final before his arrival. For Monday, he said he’d like to “stick around” and play his fill of golf, before heading south to Charleston for a concert on Tuesday.

He also might have his fix for a feast here in town, too.

“One of my favorites,” he said for dining out, “is Carolina Roadhouse.”

This story was originally published June 3, 2016 at 5:46 PM with the headline "Chris Lane finds his ‘Fix’ in return to Strand | CCMF 2016."