Dr. Greg Jackson brings live version of History That Doesn’t Suck! podcast to Liberty Hall this Friday night

Dr. Greg Jackson, host of the podcast History That Doesn’t Suck! performs on stage during the 2023-2024 tour season. Jackson will be kicking off the 2024-2024 tour in Lawrence, Kansas, on Oct. 11.

A musical history lesson with Dr. Greg Jackson, host of the podcast show, History That Doesn’t Suck!, will take place at Liberty Hall in Lawrence, Kansas, on Oct. 11. 

The nationwide tour will begin on Friday, where Jackson will transport audiences through 100 years of American history in 100 minutes, featuring live music, storytelling, and multimedia stagecraft.

Jackson began the podcast History That Doesn’t Suck! in 2017, and decided to take a live version of the show on tour last year. After successfully traveling to 14 states across the country, Jackson spent the summer editing the script for the 2024 tour season. 

Five days before the kickstart to his tour, The Pitch sat down with Jackson to discuss his excitement for the tour. Tickets for Friday’s performance are available to purchase online. 

The Pitch: Can you tell me how your passion for history began?

Prof. Greg Jackson: History was, frankly, the only subject I really enjoyed in high school. Otherwise, my skateboard and my guitar were about the only thing I really cared about. But history, for whatever reason, it spoke to me. 

I remember the day that it really dawned on me that I loved it. I was in Mrs. Berry’s 10th grade world history class, and we were talking about Napoleon and his invasion across Europe. She described how Russian soldiers met French soldiers who talked about the ideas of the French Revolution, despite Napoleon betraying all of them by making himself an emperor. The ideas of the French Revolution being liberty, equality, and brotherhood, were spreading across the continent. It had never dawned on me until that moment. 

You get to know people you talk to, see ideas move across, and get to know each other. That human connection: that’s what grabbed my attention, and I was sucked in from there.

What has the support been like? How do you believe the show has impacted others?

It’s exciting. It’s also just a ton of work. It’s so rewarding and it’s an honor. So many people, at this point, turn to my podcast for their education. It’s really the emails, the messages from people, and getting a new tour date on the books. That gives me the energy to keep carrying on. I’ll hear from a teacher who’s in the classroom, a homeschooling mother, or a professor somewhere across the country who’s using it for extra credit for his or her students.

What are you looking forward to most with your performance at Liberty Hall on Friday?

I’m looking forward to that! I’m hoping that it’ll be a big hit. We do try to go to places that we haven’t always been looking to reach. I have a nationwide audience, and we get messages from people all over asking us to come, which is exciting and great. Lawrence is also a very interesting place historically. 

I talked about it in one of my episodes years ago about the history of bloody Kansas leading up to the Civil War. There’s also a fantastic World War I museum in the area that released a baseball museum. It really is steeped in history. I’m looking forward to spending some time there, and, of course, cutting up some barbecue as I pass through Kansas City.

What was your thought process when deciding to incorporate your love for music with your passion for history for the tour? 

It’s important to know that as much as I am a PhD holding, tenured professor, and historian, I am equally a storyteller. As a storyteller, I know that music is a crucial form of communication. It’s not about the words we speak, it’s down to the enunciation of those words and the mood we set. 

Music sets a mood. It evokes emotion, it helps transport us to a different place. In the podcast, there’s music bedded over various scenes to help draw the listener into that place. It’s even more fun to do when it’s live and I’ve got musicians who are accompanying me. 

Dr. Greg Jackson, host of the podcast History That Doesn’t Suck! performs on stage during the 2023-2024 tour season. Jackson will be kicking off the 2024-2024 tour in Lawrence, Kansas, on Oct. 11.

What can audience members expect from Friday’s show?

I am explaining over these 100 years of American history in 100 minutes, but specifically, why the colonies decided to make a union. We talk about the struggle to form that union as they disagreed deeply on so many different things about how this union would work, how strong it would be, how weak it would be. 

We end the show coming out of America’s existential crisis. This bloodbath, with the nation healing and moving forward, and many people have walked out of the show with a refreshed hope in their own present as they realize the divisiveness that we see today. 

It’s not that we haven’t overcome this in the past. That isn’t to dismiss it or say that it is insignificant. But if our predecessors could do it, we can work through it too.

What do you value the most about the work you get to do with your podcast, the tour, all of it? 

I value knowing that I’m helping people have more empathy. People write in and tell me how they now understand what I’m talking about. I believe there’s a deep difference between understanding and condoning, which is crucial in history. When they can see their humanity, they can start to try and find a little bit of healing, whether that’s historical or it’s in the present.