Julia Murphy was born at Lisheen, Gneeveguilla, County Kerry, part of an area in west Munster known as Sliabh Luachra.
[citation needed] In the late Thirties she emigrated to Scotland and then to London where she worked as a hotel maid before marrying John Clifford in 1941.
Rediscovered by the British folk club scene of the Seventies, Topic in 1977 issued an earlier recording of herself with brother Denis and Padraig O'Keeffe, Kerry Fiddles (Music from Sliabh Luachra).
This was followed by two LPs featuring a range of music from various periods played by Julia, her husband and her son Billy, a flute player.
The Cliffords lived in a small council flat in Hackney in East London before being rehoused in Thetford, Norfolk in the late Seventies.