J.M. CLIFFORD

J.M. Clifford is a singer-songwriter and music educator from Brooklyn, NY. His music draws on Bluegrass, Folk and Americana. In 2025, Clifford won the grand prize at the Pensacola Beach Songwriter’s Festival, 1st place in the Solarfest Songwriting Competition and 3rd place in the Telluride Troubador Songwriting Contest. He was also a finalist in the 2024 American Songwriter Contest and is currently a top 25 finalist in the Wide Open Country songwriting contest.

His debut record, “On a Saturday Night,” was featured in The Bluegrass Situation and received rave reviews from Bluegrass Today and Holler Country. “Complicated Man,” the first single from his new record “Trains, Thinkin’ and Drinkin’”, made Ear to the Ground Music’s Top 20 songs of 2023 list.

Clifford was an Official Showcase Artist at the 2023 IBMA Business Conference in Raleigh, NC. His single “Slow Rolling Train” earned him a spot in the final round of the 2023 Rocky Mountain Songwriting Festival. Clifford was also selected to perform at the 2022 and 2023 IBMA Songwriter Showcase. He came in 2nd in the 2024 Podunk Songwriting Competition.

Clifford has toured nationally, opening shows for Ron Pope and Dar Williams. He has performed at The Outpost in North Carolina, The Highlands Bluegrass Festival in New York, the Thomas Point Beach Bluegrass Festival and Podunk. He has performed at the Jalopy Theater in Brooklyn, NY Lilly Ps in Cambridge, MA and Nick-A-Nees in Providence, RI.

Clifford’s latest record was produced by platinum-selling artist Ron Pope and features Bronwyn Keith-Hynes (fiddle), Seth Taylor (guitar), Jeff Partin (dobro), and Jeff Picker (bass). Singles from the record have been featured on Spotify’s Indy Bluegrass, Grassroots and New Grass playlists and the Amazon Music’s Pickin’ On playlist.

When he’s not leading crowds in song, Clifford leads his students as a NYC elementary school music teacher.