Hemphill Brothers Coach Company

Hemphill Brothers Coach Company is a luxury motor coach operations company that provides coach leasing, sales, maintenance, and custom conversion services. Established in 1980, it is a family-owned company located near Nashville, Tennessee, USA.

Hemphill Brothers Coach Company
IndustryLuxury Motor Coach Leasing, Sales, and Custom Conversion Manufacture
FoundedOctober 1980
FounderJoey Hemphill
Trent Hemphill
HeadquartersNashville, TN

The company provides luxury tour buses to an extensive list of celebrities and politicians, including Aerosmith, Beyoncé, Garth Brooks, Van Halen, Justin Timberlake, Korn, and Lady Gaga. [1]

History
Hemphill Brothers Coach Company Luxury Tour Bus

The company was started in 1980 by Joey and Trent Hemphill. They began with two ‘65 model Silver Eagle buses. The company received a big break in 1982 when Van Halen contracted Hemphill Brothers Coach Company to supply transportation for a four-month tour. The experience ended up becoming a learning opportunity for the young company. At this time, they wrote their own single-page contracts. A spelling error ended up costing the company thousands of dollars, which led to a higher focus on attention paid to their contracts. [2]

The first ten years of operation ran alongside the brothers’ musical career which began back in the 1960s. Their mother, LaBreeska Hemphill, grew up as a member of gospel musicians the Happy Goodman Family. She went on to continue playing music with her husband, Joel W. Hemphill, Sr. her two sons, Joey and Trent, and their daughter Candy Hemphill Christmas, under the name The Hemphills. They continued to tour together until 1990. [2] After retiring from touring, the brothers were able to further focus on expanding their business.

The company now operates out of a 15-acre campus just outside of Nashville, TN with a fleet of over 115 motor coaches. Their list of top-tier clients continues to grow. Joey and Trent have appeared on Oprah, VH1’s The Fabulous Life of Pop Stars, HGTV, and are regularly featured on the Travel Channel series, Extreme RVs. [3]

Features on the company include Fox Business, [4] Good Morning America, [5] Travel + Leisure, [6] Lonely Planet, [7] MSNBC Your Business, [8] Worldwide Business with Kathy Ireland, [9] and American Profile Magazine. [10]

Services

Hemphill Brothers Coach Company is a full-service motor coach provider. The majority of their business revolves around leasing high-end motor coaches to touring artists with award-winning professional drivers. They also offer motor coach sales and customization. [1]

Leasing

Their leasing service allows the option to select a previously-built and road-ready bus, or a customized bus. Their facility features a 12-bay maintenance shop and two 6-bay conversion shops, and is used to provide services for the Hemphill lease fleet as well as for select external customers. [1]

Customization

Their expert team of electricians, mechanics, woodworkers, custom paint and bodywork specialists, and upholsterers can specialize every aspect of the interior and exterior of the buses to fit their clients’ needs.

The conversion operation provides a full range of customizing services to client specifications. For new custom conversions, the operation uses bare coaches from Prevost Car, a manufacturer of touring coach shells for specialty conversions which is located in Quebec, Canada. The operation is a Prevost-authorized maintenance facility.

They have performed many unique customizations such as installing an upright piano for Harry Connick Jr. and a treadmill for Taylor Swift. They have also installed amenities such as full recording studios, an indoor fireplace, tanning beds, and more. [1]

Sales

New and used bus sales are also available. Used buses come pre-fabricated and offer a lower bottom line. New buses are able to be customized to the client’s specific wants and needs. They sell used buses in addition to the new bus sales. [1]

Drivers and Support

The company employs over 150 drivers, many of which have won awards for their services. [3] Each driver is supplied with an assortment of extra parts in case the bus experiences any technical difficulties while on the road. An on-call technician, alongside the maintenance shop in Nashville, assists the drivers should something go wrong, and has a network of garages throughout the country to quickly fix anything that can’t be taken care of by the driver. [2]

Presidential Services
Main article: Ground Force One

Bush Administration

Texas governor George W. Bush’s campaign contacted Hemphill Brothers Coach Company to supply motor coaches for the presidential bid for the 2000 election. The campaign continued to use the company through inauguration.

Hemphill Brothers Coach Company Luxury Tour Bus

The Bush campaign again called on Hemphill Brothers Coach Company to supply motor coaches during the 2004 re-election campaign. The campaign/RNC leased 16 buses despite the standard protocol of the Secret Service sourcing their own vehicles. Hemphill’s technicians worked alongside the Secret Service to fortify the buses to bring them to the heightened security protocols for presidential transportation. [2]

Obama Administration

Hemphill Brothers Coach Company customized the buses that were used by President Barack Obama for a trip to Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois during the week of August 15, 2011. Although the trip had the appearance of a presidential campaign event, it was designated an official trip by the Obama administration and was thus federally financed. [11]

US Secret Service

The two customized Secret Service buses built during the Obama presidency are still being used to this day as part of the presidential detail.[12]

Awards

Hemphill Brothers Coach Company and their drivers have received numerous awards for excellence in their field of work. [13]

  • 2019 Coach Company of the Year - Parnelli Awards
  • 2019 Coach Company of the Year - Pinnacle Awards
  • 2019 Coach Driver of the Year - Dwayne Harper - Top Dog Awards
  • 2019 Coach Company of the Year – Top Dog Awards
  • 2018 Coach Driver of the Year - Dwayne Harper - Top Dog Awards
  • 2018 Coach Company of the Year - Parnelli Awards
  • 2018 Coach/Truck Driver of the Year - John Stalder - CMA Touring Awards
  • 2017 Coach Driver of the Year - Dwayne Harper - Top Dog Awards
  • 2017 Coach/Truck Driver of the Year - Danny Shelnut - CMA Touring Awards
  • 2016 Coach Company of the Year - Parnelli Awards
  • 2016 Coach Driver of the Year - Dwayne Harper - Top Dog Awards
  • 2016 Coach/Truck Driver of the Year - Josh Easter - CMA Touring Awards
  • 2015 Coach Company of the Year - Parnelli Awards
  • 2015 Coach Driver of the Year - Ty Saunders - Top Dog Awards
  • 2015 BBB Torch Award – Finalist Middle TN and Southern KY
  • 2014 Coach Company of the Year - Parnelli Awards
  • 2014 Coach Driver of the Year - Ty Saunders - Top Dog Awards
  • 2013 Coach Company of the Year - Parnelli Awards
  • 2013 Coach Company of the Year - Top Dog Awards
  • 2013 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year – Finalist Southeast
  • 2011 Coach Company of the Year - Parnelli Awards
  • 2010 Coach Company of the Year - Parnelli Awards
  • 2009 Coach Company of the Year - Parnelli Awards
  • 2006 Coach Company of the Year - Parnelli Awards


References
  1. "Hemphill Brothers Coach Company Corporate Website". Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  2. "Everything But The Show Podcast 6/23/2020". Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  3. "Hemphill Van, Space-Age Camper, Tyrese's Custom RV". Travel Channel.
  4. Settembre, Jeanette. "Coronavirus brings tour bus industry to a halt, costing companies millions". Fox Business. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  5. "Hemphill Brothers on GMA". Youtube. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  6. Leasca, Stacy. "This Company Is Renting Unused Celebrity Tour Buses for Summer Road Trips". Travel and Leisure. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  7. Keith, Lauren. "You can now rent a celebrity tour bus for your summer road trip". Lonely Planet. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  8. "Rocking the Road". MSNBC.com. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  9. "Buses to Homes: Hemphill Brothers' Custom Coaches". Worldwide Business with Kathy Ireland. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  10. Hollabaugh, Laurie. "Driver to the Stars". American Profile. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  11. "America's Book of Secrets". Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  12. Knoller, Mark (August 15, 2011). "U.S. Secret Service gets 2 new buses ahead of Obama tour". CBS News. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  13. "Awards | Hemphill Brothers Coach Company". Retrieved 4 August 2020.
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