Julia Clifford

Who was Julia Clifford?

Julia Clifford was a fiddler and Irish traditional musician.

Julia Murphy was born at Lisheen, Gneeveguilla, County Kerry, part of an area in west Munster known as Sliabh Luachra one of eight children. Her father Bill played flute, fife, and fiddle and had a fife and drum band. Both she and her brother Denis Murphy, also a noted musician, were taught the fiddle by noted fiddler from the same area, Padraig O'Keeffe.

Julia moved to Scotland and worked as a maid and in 1941 married accordion player John Clifford. She won the All-Ireland fiddle championship at Mullingar in 1963.

Clifford, her brother, O'Keefe, and others from the Sliabh Luachra area are regarded as a significant influence on Irish traditional music and have given rise to the term Sliabh Luachra style.