Feature: Autumn Jackson and Christina Coleman
Written by Hannah Sever
It’s always a bummer when something you’re looking forward to gets canceled- but does a bummer always have to be a bad thing? Not according to Autumn Jackson and Christina Coleman.
Last year, festival-goers became festival directors when Bonnaroo, the annual music & arts festival in Tennessee, was abruptly canceled.
The saga began when Autumn, an avid Bonnaroo-goer, posted on her Instagram Story.
“Immediately I was just spamming my story like- ‘I’m so sad, people play in my living room!’ and ‘I’m so sad, we have to do something else!’ Then, Christina slid up and said ‘My house! LET’S DO IT!’”
Autumn and Christina facetimed and mapped out their vision. From there, Bummeroo 2021 was born- the first backyard festival of the century!
“We had three days. Bonnaroo had posted that they were canceling, so it was pretty much from that night until the show actually happened that we did everything…” Christina said.
Putting a festival together in three days was not easy, but the Bummeroo team managed. Autumn said that putting it together seemed difficult at first, but the excitement of a resurrected live music experience made the task at hand rewarding and fun!
“There was one night that I stayed up till 4 a.m. making t-shirts, and those three days I don’t really think I slept at all. But I was so excited!”
The timing of Bummeroo was shocking not just because of the quick turnaround, but also due to the fact that it was enshrouded in the unstable setting of newly-lightened COVID restrictions.
“Everyone playing music for jobs didn’t exist for like a year and a half because of COVID. This was the first chance in a long time for people to play- this made it an exciting thing for the love of music and not for a career,” Autumn shared.
After three days of non-stop planning and coordinating, a community came together from all over for two days of non-stop live music and art.
“...it's all about supporting our community of different artists! And this year, other than like our sweet friend Avery who played at the beginning of the first night last year, we are having all new artists,” Christina states.
This year, Autumn is looking forward to the sweet moments that make Bummeroo what it is!
“Last year, there were a couple of shows where people were just playing a normal set and then people were singing along and you could literally see the artist was like shocked and moved,” Autumn explains. “Shane T came to play and while he was singing the whole crowd sang along. And you could tell that he was just like so in shock and it was really cool.”
Christina is particularly excited to see one of her favorite artists play this year- Scott James!
“I’ve been listening to him since 2016 at least and I’ve always wanted to see him play,” Christina reached out and he was in! “It will be super cool to hear him for the first time in the backyard of this little festival that me and one of my best friends made together- which is just the most dreamy, surreal thing to think of.”
Head to Bummeroo THIS weekend to support the Nashville creative community with friends by your side! DM @bummeroooo for the address & more information.
Doors open at 7p.m. Friday and 12p.m. Saturday with live music and vendors from all over Nashville!
And lastly, “BUMMEROO IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH BONNAROO!”
