Recently, The Bottom Dollars — a New England-based bluegrass trio featuring Betsy Green (fiddle, vocals), Tim Fitzpatrick (guitar, vocals), and Dave Shaw (banjo) — stopped by the The Folk Show to share their origin story, performed a live set of traditional and original tunes, and give us a preview of their packed summer festival schedule.
Low expectations, high-quality music
Formed in 2024, the trio grew organically out of New England's bluegrass and folk scene.
"The three of us have spent a lot of time, many, many hours jamming together at parties and festivals," Betsy Green explained. "We just found that we liked the same kinds of songs and kind of clicked musically."
When asked why they settled on "The Bottom Dollars" (after turning down a proposal to call the group Bets and the Bottom Dollars), Green joked, "It’s good to have low expectations."
Those low expectations are countered by their rich, authentic sound. While they don't feature a traditional five-piece bluegrass lineup, they comfortably inhabit the genre, pulling from early, obscure bluegrass catalogs, traditional fiddle tunes, and their own original songwriting.
Setlist
During their visit, the band treated The Folk Show audience to a lively four-song set:
- The Rolling Hills of West Virginia
- Keep on Going (a Red Allen cover)
- Cumberland ( by Tim Fitzpatrick)
- Rock and Roll Man (by Betsy Green)
While the band doesn't have an official studio album under the "Bottom Dollars" moniker just yet, you can find video links and live recordings of their recent sets by visiting bottomdollars.net.
You can also catch the band at a variety of festivals this summer, include the Jenny Brook Bluegrass Festival in Vermont (July 25-28) and the Ossipee Valley Music Festival in Maine (July 23-26).
Catch The Folk Show with Kate McNally on NHPR and Vermont Public each Sunday from 7 to 10 p.m. — or, catch an encore airing on NHPR each Friday at 9 p.m.
