Rod Bailey, Jeffery Bell, Steven Burns, and Ralph Messner have all sung together or for each other at various times throughout the years in duets, quartets, choirs, and ensembles. We've all been members of Tempe Nazarene Church (TNC) in Tempe, AZ. Ralph and Steven were the first to meet in 1976 when Ralph arrived from Michigan to attend ASU. Steve and his wife sang for Ralph's wedding in 1979. Jeffery met Steve when he started dating Steven's sister-in-law and eventually married her. Rod came to TNC in the 80's as an administrator for the church and school. He's also an accomplished musician. All of them sang in the TNC choir and have been involved in worship teams and special productions.
TCM started at the request of a pastor friend, the late Ralph Scott, to have a male quartet sing for a funeral. He requested a song for which he had no music. He did have an old vinyl disc. Rod Bailey and Ralph Messner transcribed that recording and The Carpenter's Men first sang together soon after in 2002. We hadn't taken that name at the time but realized that God was calling us to sing together. We all committed to it and then the search was on for a name. Jeffery suggested FogSap (Four Old Guys Standing Around a Piano) but, bless his heart, we came up with the name we now have.
TCM sings out of the joy of the gift of life and music we've been given. God has called us to set aside one evening each week to rehearse and at least one concert per month to exercise those gifts. We do so expecting no personal monetary gain for us individually nor are we looking to replace our individual careers. All our expenses are covered by the freewill gifts of the people we sing for and from the sale of CDs.
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Ralph is the son of musicians. He was raised with music from before birth. He was a member of the internationally acclaimed The Columbus Boychoir (now The American Boychoir) in his youth and toured throughout the United States and South America with them. Throughout High School he remained active in music, touring with Youth For Understanding Chorale and String Ensemble. He was also very active in theatre. He pursued a Bachelor of Music in Secondary Education degree. He has been the Worship Leader and Choir Director at TNC for 12 years total since 1981. He's now Director of Technology there and is actively involved in the praise team and choir. He also plays bass guitar.
We have two albums, Roll, Jordan and Sing, and we're finishing our third, Satisfied. Listen to samples in our Discography page. You can also order individual songs and download albums.
Facebook member? Look for our Facebook group “The Carpenter’s Men Quartet”.
Download a TCM Concert flyer and poster. You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader or a compatible PDF viewer.
Get JPG photos (horizontal) (vertical).
