30 Years Ago: Alan Jackson Throws Epic FREE Boat Party

If you know anything about Alan Jackson, you know Mr. Chattahoochee is a big fan of the water. The famous song isn’t entirely fiction. Growing up, some of Jackson’s fondest memories happened in and around lakes and rivers. This is one of the reasons that when he finally found some success in his career, Jackson decided he wanted to live right beside the water, and help some folks make memories of their own by the water too.

As one of the major members of country music’s “Class of ’89,” Alan Jackson hit the big time out of the gate with his debut major label album Here in the Real World. It would end up going Double Platinum, and would ultimately make Alan Jackson a very wealthy man.

With his earnings, Alan Jackson decided to purchase a breathtaking piece of property on Center Hill Lake about 70 miles east of Nashville. The 6,100-square-foot house sat on a 3.6 acre peninsula that stuck out into the lake with 1,346 feet of shoreline. It was a dream home to say the least. Jackson nicknamed it “The Real World.”

But Jackson wanted to share the wealth. Shortly after moving in, he decided to throw a party for his friends and neighbors in the area. Promoted only by word of mouth aside from a few local fliers, Alan Jackson assembled an epic boat concert of the magnitude middle Tennessee and most any other place had never seen before.

Just a short boat ride from his home, Jackson partnered with Edgar Evins State Park, erected a stage some 12 foot above the water, and invited everyone to come to the free concert. It took place on Saturday, July 23rd, 1994—coincidentally the same day his version of “Summertime Blues” hit #1 on the country charts.

Lisa Stewart and Rhonda Vincent opened the show, and then Alan Jackson performed for two hours with his wife and two daughters seated behind him. According to the Army Corps of Engineers, some 2,000 to 2,500 boats, and 5,000 people attended.

Apparently at one point during the concert, the bugs nearly got the best of Jackson, and he had to call for bug spray. But otherwise the event was an overwhelming success. It went off so well, Jackson decided to do it again on a semi-annual basis, eventually coining it the “Center Hill-Billy Lake Show.”

It’s a little hard to confirm just how many years the show happened, but you can find flyers for it from the next year and in 1998. Jackson didn’t promote it otherwise because he didn’t want to draw too big of a crowd from outside of the area. He wanted to keep it more exclusive for locals.

Perhaps at some point it got so out of hand, the annual Alan Jackson boat show of Center Hill Lake was discontinued. But then in 2009, Jackson brought back the tradition for the massive Aqua Palooza in Lake Martin, Alabama. At this shindig, and estimated 4,000 boats and 35,000 fans showed up. CMT was there to capture the whole thing (when CMT was still cool), and broadcast it as a special.

Alan Jackson ended up putting “The Real World” compound on Center Hill Lake up for sale in 2012. It’s now a luxury rental. But Jackson has kept a close connection with the water over the years, including his collection of wooden boats.

Throughout his career, Alan Jackson has sang what he lived, and lived what he sang. And along with showing his appreciation of the water, Jackson showed appreciation to his fans in these free concert. When enumerating all the ways Alan Jackson remains one of the coolest country artists in history, his free lake shows shouldn’t be forgotten.