Alan Jackson Recalls Favorite July 4th Memory

Alan Jackson doesn’t have to think long to recall his favorite July 4th memory. The 59-year-old says his favorite Independence Day holiday involved the Big Apple, his boat and his family.

“A couple of years ago, maybe longer than that now, I had an old boat in Florida,” Jackson recounts. “It’s like an old antique motor yacht, and it was kind of a cool old boat. I had taken that boat – I’ve always wanted to take it up north, like to New York and up in that area, up in the northeast where it’s so pretty. So, we took the boat up there – Denise and the girls, we all went up. They like going to New York City, which I don’t really care about going to the city. I got to stay in my boat there at the harbor tied up, which was cool anyway.

“They spent time in the city a few days and then that was Fourth of July, and we went out in the Hudson River that night and they shot the fireworks off,” he continues. “We were anchored out in front of the Statue of Liberty and New York City was behind us, and the Statue of Liberty and the fireworks were going off sitting on that boat. That was the coolest thing and my girls still talk about that. I mean, that was the coolest thing on Fourth of July I can ever remember. I can’t top that one probably. It was emotional sitting there watching the Statue of Liberty and thinking about all that. It was very cool.”

The Georgia native may not be a fan of hanging out in New York City, but he is a fan of Nashville. Jackson recently opened AJs Good Time Bar in the heart of Music City.

“I always wanted a real honky-tonk on Broadway,” Jackson explains to GQ. “When I came to town, Broadway was too rough. You couldn’t go down there. But now it’s become such a historical part of Nashville and of country music. What I bought is a little skinny bar. It’s got four floors but it’s just a little shotgun building. And it’s the oldest building in downtown Nashville. It goes back to the 1800s. It’s had a lot of cool history there.

“I didn’t want it to be some new-type thing — I wanted an original Nashville honky-tonk — so I didn’t hardly fix it up,” he adds. “We just swept it out and hung a bunch of my pictures on the wall with all kinds of memorabilia. And I don’t let them play anything in there but real country music.”

Jackson is spending much of the summer on the road. Find dates at AlanJackson.com.

Photo Credit: Getty images/Terry Wyatt