It was an open secret that, of the eight musical Borowski siblings, Sallie Borowski-Sandler was the most talented. While brothers Boris (“Bo”) and Gerry played every two-bit joint that would have them, sister Sallie set her sights on Nashville. Ma and Paw-Paw Borowski sent her on her way with a pocketful of the farm-subsidy cash. Everybody expected to hear her muscular alto pealing from the old Victrola within months; the Grand Ole Opry and a CMA statuette would follow in due course.
When Sallie came back to Wayne County a few years after she’d left, she downplayed her adventures. To be honest, we still don’t know how things worked out for her down there. Depending on when she tells it, Sallie either sat in on a few sessions with Vince Gill or served him a grilled cheese at the diner where she slung hash. Back here in PA, she mostly does odd jobs. There may or may not be a child and a first husband somewhere along the interstate.
But when Sallie takes the voice out for a spin Tuesday nights at Kuester’s Karaoke… well, it’s 1989 all over again. The dream hasn’t been broken so much as deferred, she says. We all choose to believe her.
