The name of this foursome is derived from the international trade accords
reached in 1994 between the North American countries
(and we didn’t think NAFTA was very catchy!).
Three of the men live in southeastern Pennsylvania—one lives near Toronto, Ontario.
Needless to say, this made rehearsals fairly difficult to schedule—and REALLY long!
Lead singer Jay Butterfield served for several years as head of the Fine Arts
department at Lampeter-Strasburg High School and is now Assistant Principal at
Hempfield High School, near Lancaster, PA. Jay has been barbershopping since age 10,
winning a gold chorus medal at age 15 with the Dallas Vocal Majority.
He currently directs the Wilmington, DE Chapter.
Baritone Ron Knickerbocker has been a barbershopper for 34 years.
He has been in a number of quartets to date, finishing in the Top 20,
Top 10, and Top 5 at International. His crowning quartet achievement
came as the baritone of the 1974 International Quartet Champion, The Regents.
Ron is a retired high school Physics teacher and directed the Chordbusters
Chorus of Chester County, PA for 15 years.
Tenor Chuck Lower has been singing barbershop harmony since 1960.
He has sung tenor in numerous fine Mid-Atlantic quartets.
He is a certified judge in the singing category, and was the director
of The North Pennsmen Chorus of the Lansdale, PA Chapter for more than 20 years.
Chuck is a counselor at Arcadia University.
A resident of Canada, bass Al Baker is one of the most highly sought-after
vocal coaches in the barbershop world. He is a four-time quartet champ in
three different districts, having won in the Senecaland and Ontario Districts,
in addition to winning in the MAD with FTA. He has made nearly a dozen
appearances on the International stage with many quartets.
All four are very active as coaches and instructors across the Society,
and have served as faculty at many district and Internationally sponsored schools.
As a matter of fact, singing together informally at these schools is what led
Free Trade Agreement to organize officially as a quartet in late 1995.
In their first contest, they won the right to represent the Mid-Atlantic District
at the 1996 International Contest in Salt Lake City, Utah.
In fact, the quartet made the top twenty after only eleven rehearsals!
In October of 1997, they were crowned champions of the Mid-Atlantic District.
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