She was visited and recorded by prominent collectors of traditional music including Alan Lomax, Jean Ritchie, Peter Kennedy and Seamus Ennis.

Elizabeth Cronin was born on 29 May 1879 in Rath West (Irish: An Ráth Thiar), in the civil parish of Ballyvourney, County Cork.

[3] She learnt many of her songs and stories as a young teenager[2] from farm servants who came and went for periods of five to six months, as well as others from her mother, cousins and friends.

[3] Due to Cronin's father being a teacher and her grandfather and uncle having a big interest in books, she was exposed to literature and the written word more than most would have been at the time.

[3] After she married Seán Ó Croinin, she moved to Carraig an Adhmaid, Baile Mhic Íre (Ballmakeera) to the Cronin family farm which was known as 'The Old Plantation'.

[2] She made her first public appearance in 1899 at the age of 20 in a Feis in Macroom, [citation needed] singing two sean-nós songs in Irish.

Lomax included her songs in the Irish volume of his 18-volume "Columbia World Library of Folk and Primitive Music," which he edited whilst in London during the 1950s.

Most of her songs covered the topics of home and family, including "The Little Pack of Tailors", "Pussy Cats Party", "The Good Ship Kangaroo" and "Uncle Rat".