Breaking Through by Sally's Dream, The Band

We’re Sally’s Dream - a kick ass band from Bloomington, Indiana. Or we were - back in the glorious 1980s. Our mission: to rock the world with our original songs!
Here is our story… 
We so wanted to be a band, that we grabbed guitars, drumsticks, and an old Farfisa organ and jumped head-first into Bloomington’s raging new music scene.
Our first rehearsal space was a rusty metal shipping container near the train tracks. Later, we happily upgraded to dingy rooms above the storefronts on the town square. We wrote music and practiced whenever we weren’t at our jobs in cafes or dancing to bands at the local clubs.
We got gigs at Bloomington’s awesome alternative music venue, Second Story. Then at the all-ages club, Ricky’s Canteena. Then, Jake’s, the Bluebird, and the Crazy Horse Saloon. Our friends would come out to support us and dance their faces off.
We got booked to open for some of the great alt touring bands that were coming down the turnpike: 10,000 Maniacs, Romeo Void, Smithereens, BoDeans, Lone Justice, Fishbone, Adrian Belew & the Bears, Shriekback, Drivin’ and Cryin’, and Get Smart! It was awesome and inspiring getting to know these artists who were living their lives making music.
We took our show on the road in our step van, Stella, and rocked the smokey venues and divine dirty dives of the day - The Hoosier Ballroom, Exit, the Jockey Club, Sudsy Malone’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Laundry and Bar, the EXIT/IN, Tewligans Tavern, and the Uptown Lounge - making new friends along the way.
Life on the road had its share of bizarre incidents. We were a girl band, after all, touring the Midwest and South and breaking into the boy’s club.
No GPS and no idea of what we were heading into when we’d get to the next gig.
In 1987, the band started talking about moving to a bigger city. We loved Bloomington, but we were feeling lost in the corn fields of southern Indiana. We knew a couple of bands that had moved to Boston, so we decided to move there too - with the dream of one day breaking through to rock n’ roll glory.
Well, that didn’t quite happen.
Boston was an incredible experience. The city had big charm and a great rock scene. We settled in and started to get gigs at Chet’s Penalty Box, t.t. The Bears, the Middle East, Johnny D’s, and the granddaddy of all Boston clubs, the Rat.
We had a blast the first couple of years then we hit some personal roadblocks that changed our course. Sally’s Dream ended in 1990 but our sisterhood never has.
Fast forward to 2022. As many of you know, our beautiful and brilliant songwriter and guitarist, Chrissie Dickinson, passed away from heart failure on May 19, surrounded by her sisters. We were all reeling and devastated.
That summer, we hosted a memorial for Chrissie at Emily’s home in Bloomington to celebrate Chrissie’s amazing art and life. We laughed and cried as a parade of faces from our youth showed up to hail and honor our friend. We partied like it was 1989.
At Chrissie’s celebration, we played five Sally’s Dream songs that we hadn’t heard for years. Our music still rocked and felt relevant, so we started digging into our personal collections of all things Sally’s Dream.
We discovered more recordings, videos, and weird and wonderful mementos of our band days. The memories brought us some peace through our grief of not having Chrissie physically by our side.
Sally's Dream had been featured on several compilation albums and cassette tapes, but we’d never released our own album. We decided now was the time to digitize our music and finally share it.
The last few years have been an awesome journey of raucous reunions and zany zoom calls, trying to figure this all out. It’s been like jamming with our band again.
So, here we are - finally releasing Sally’s Dream, Breaking Through, 13 of our original songs that were recorded in the 1980s and digitally mastered in 2024. The album is dedicated to Chrissie with love.
Maybe you were there with us at one of our shows, dancing and sweating in front of the stage.
Maybe you have no idea who we are, but you remember your own wild nights with your best friends, rocking out to new music.
Or maybe you’re too young to have lived in the ’80s, but dig the music of that era and have rock ‘n’ roll in your soul.
We hope that Sally’s Dream - The Band will take you back to those times. We’re on Band Camp. We’d be honored if you check us out.
We’ve also unearthed some crazy live footage, photos, interviews, reviews, gig posters, and other memories that we’ll be sharing. It's a punk-rock time capsule!
Thanks for coming on this ride with us. Please reach out to say hello and post your own memories of those rockin’ days. It would be amazing to hear from you!
With big love and friendship,
Cyn, Emily, & Jenny
#sallysdreamtheband #punkrock #femalepunkrock #rockandroll #altrock #girlbands #womeninrock #womeninmusic #femalerockers #1980srock #girlpower #sisterhood #girlfriends #bloomingtonindiana #bostonrock #indyrock

Sally's Dream is a pioneering all-female band from Bloomington, Indiana formed in the 1980s by Chrissie Dickinson (guitar, vocals), Cynthia Hammond (bass, keyboards, vocals), Jenny Davis (keyboards, bass, guitar, vocals) and Emily Jackson (drums). These unsung heroines rocked their hearts out and had the times of their lives on the road and in the studio.

Facebook