Pump House Records

Pump House Records was spearheaded by Lee Brice and Cody LaBelle in Franklin, Tenn., starting in 2020. 

 Becca LaBelle

As a home and a refuge to several artists in Franklin, Pump House Records is more than just a recording studio. 

Founded by chart-topping country star Lee Brice, it’s a soft place to land for him, his team and several artists who make the trek to write and record.

Located on Brice’s multi-acre farm in the middle of Franklin, Pump House started as a dream that became a reality during 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

“We built this place from the ground up, so a lot of the wood in the studio came from an old house that used to stand in that field you drive by to come in,” Pump House Records audio engineer Cody LaBelle told Williamson Scene. He pointed to some of the old wooden beams that keep the recording studio standing.

“It took about a year to build. This table and those beams up there are all from an old house that was about 250 years old. There’s a lot of history in these walls.” 

Labelle, Brice, Brice's family and friends built the studio from the ground up. Collectively, they designed all the rooms and acoustic paneling themselves, with the studio windows looking out at rolling fields of green grass.

“All of these were built by hand. He had a friend come from South Carolina to do a lot of the construction, and Brice ran all the electrical wiring,” LaBelle said. “His dad’s an electrician, so he ran the electrical wiring through here with his dad and brother. It was a passion project."

As a graduate from Middle Tennessee State University with a lifelong passion for audio engineering, LaBelle started working with Brice after meeting him through an internship with Legends Studio.

He went out on the road with Brice shortly after, when he became his mobile recording engineer. While they were out on the road, the two chatted about building a studio. When COVID hit, they knew it was the perfect time to break ground and make something special.

Now, LaBelle works with Brice whenever he comes home from tour on his projects, as well as with other artists who are coming to record.

“I am calling it a hybrid studio because it’s a private studio where we occasionally record other commercial projects,” LaBelle said. “We just did Edwin McCain's record, and we’re currently working on Jarrod Niemann’s record, as well. We also have this artist named Grace Tyler who’s on tour with them right now.” 

Now, LaBelle and Brice are working tirelessly on the forthcoming record Sunriser.

According to LaBelle, there are days when the team is shut in for days in Pump House writing, recording and creating this record. Sunriser will feature 16 songs, with the deluxe All Nighter edition featuring a total of 32 tracks. The record is an homage to hard work and dedication, with the title Sunriser alluding to someone who is willing to stay up all night to get the job done, whatever that may be. 

“When The Kingdom Comes” — one of the recently released singles from the record — is a track that makes LaBelle proud. The song, written by Brice, his wife, Sara, Jon Stone and Billy Montana, is a moving track that touches on faith, love and heartbreak.

“It’s my favorite song on the record, but it’s also the first of 11 that I mixed,” LaBelle said. “It’s the first major song of Lee’s that I mixed.” 

Pump House Records is a space for creatives to get out of the concrete jungle feel that Music Row can sometimes emanate, offering a peaceful, serene, retreat-like atmosphere for country songs to thrive.