Our Story

It all started in August 2022.

A documentary filmmaker named Rick Korn contacted Rex Fowler of the folk/rock band Aztec Two-Step about using his song “Living In America” in the documentary film, A Father’s Promise.

This important film which features Sheryl Crow as its executive producer, focuses primarily on the journey of professional musician Mark Barden after his six-year-old son Daniel perished, along with six teachers and 19 of his classmates, during the devastating Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting in December 2012.

Rick, a lifelong Aztec Two-Step fan, was slotting in the music for his film and asked Rex if he could use his song which references gun control efforts in its lyrics. Rex jumped at the opportunity, being a passionate advocate for more and better gun reform laws after John Lennon was tragically murdered in 1980 by yet another lunatic.

Four decades after “Living in America” was written

Later in 2022, Rick Korn invited Aztec Two-Step to perform it and Rex's “Highway Song” for a filming and fundraiser event at The Warehouse in Fairfield, CT. Amazingly, ten years removed from his family’s horrific loss and tragedy, Mark Barden’s Promise Band happened to also be performing that evening, along with another superb folk/rock band, The Alternate Routes.

An accomplished musician with a Bachelor of the Arts degree in music and formal training in jazz and composition, Barden became a lifetime rocker, well-known and respected in Connecticut, New York City, and throughout the Northeast. After losing his son Daniel, Mark was emotionally unable to play his guitar and stopped touring to process this still unimaginable tragedy.

The incident changed Mark’s life trajectory forever. He became one of the co-founders of Sandy Hook Promise along with Nicole Hockley and Tim Makris. And although thankfully, Mark and his band are now playing regularly again, his outreach has a new purpose; to spread the word of the rampant gun violence in our country and what we can do to change things.

Fast forward to December 7, 2023

A Father’s Promise was finished and ready for release. Rick again contacted Rex about participating by playing “Living In America” for a concert to promote and celebrate the film’s launch. Led by Mark Barden and the Promise Band’s musical director Jimmy Vivino, the concert also featured performances by Sheryl Crow, Peter Frampton, Kevin Bacon, and a host of other special music guests; all of whom were filmed for future use.

After being deeply moved by the Sandy Hook Foundation, especially after the December 2023 concert in New York City, Dodie Pettit, now a revered songwriter, vocalist, and lead guitarist in Aztec Two-Step, approached Nicole Hockley and Mark Barden about producing a fundraising concert. She filled them in on her previous Broadway career which included major roles in Cats, Titanic, and as a ballerina in the original cast of The Phantom of the Opera.

Dodie's closeness with many of Broadway’s best-known artists, and knowing how they have generously given their time to Broadway Cares and many other causes, inspired her to reach out to them to do this fundraiser for Sandy Hook Promise in their efforts to stem gun violence in America.

With Nicole's and Mark’s blessing and the blessing of Sandy Hook Promise…

In January 2024, Dodie set out to put together the show you are about to see. As she anticipated, these wonderful Broadway performers have donated their talent and time to raise money and awareness for this incredibly important cause. Dodie’s background in dance and voice led her to reach out locally to the Connecticut Dance School in Fairfield, on which she is also a Board member, as well as to students from several Westport school systems where she worked for many years in after-school musical programs, along with Ben Frimmer and Mary Jo Duffy; all of whom have pitched in selflessly for this event.

This cause transcends every American citizen…

We come together to add our voices and spirit to help Sandy Hook Promise continue to spread their good works. Bless you all for coming and helping them (and us) do just that.