J.M. Clifford Releases New Single "EMPTY GLASS OF GIN"
The track follows first single "Hard Luck Man" and features bluegrass musicians Wes Corbett, Shaun Richardson, and Justin Moses.
New York-based singer-songwriter and bluegrass musician J.M. Clifford has released his latest single, 'Empty Glass of Gin,' available everywhere today. The song is the second single from Clifford's upcoming album, Things That We Can't Change, arriving October 16, and follows the release of the album's first single, 'Hard Luck Man.' Built around the question of how we respond to the things we cannot control, Things That We Can't Change explores loss, love, regret, faith, parenthood, and the search for acceptance through Clifford's blend of bluegrass tradition and deeply personal songwriting.
On 'Empty Glass of Gin,' Clifford turns his attention to the complicated weight of regret. Set against a city of neon lights and late-night bars, the song follows a narrator trying to outrun the past with a few drinks and the company of old ghosts. Clifford brings to life a portrait of someone confronting what cannot be changed and struggling to figure out how to live with it.
'I think regret is one of the saddest emotions to process,' says Clifford. 'It can be so hard to let go of the past. To forgive other people. To forgive yourself. People choose to deal with really difficult feelings in all sorts of ways. I'd like to say that my better angels always win the day, but that's not the reality. I think most of us at one point or another try to solve a problem by creating another one.'
Produced by Clifford and Ron Pope, Things That We Can't Change features songwriting collaborations with Pope and performances from some of the finest musicians in bluegrass, including Wes Corbett (banjo), Shaun Richardson (mandolin), Christian Sedelmyer (fiddle), Jeff Picker (bass), and Justin Moses (dobro). Clifford contributes guitar and lead vocals, with Liz Dewey and Justin Blanner on backing vocals.
For Clifford, bluegrass has always been more than a genre — it is a community. After discovering the Brooklyn bluegrass scene at Sunnys Bar in Red Hook, he immersed himself in the music, studying artists like Norman Blake, Bill Monroe, and The Stanley Brothers while becoming a performer, teacher, and advocate for the tradition.
Today, Clifford teaches music in Brooklyn, where he shares his love of songwriting and creativity with his students. With Things That We Can't Change, he continues to create music that finds the universal in the personal, writing songs about heartbreak, hope, family, and the ongoing work of accepting life as it comes.
About J.M. Clifford
J.M. Clifford is a Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter and elementary school music educator whose work blends bluegrass, folk, and Americana with a strong narrative voice. A rising presence on the national songwriting circuit, he has earned top honors at the Pensacola Beach Songwriter Festival and Solarfest, and was a finalist in the 2025 Telluride Troubadour Songwriting Contest and the 2024 American Songwriter Contest. His debut album On a Saturday Night drew praise from The Bluegrass Situation, Bluegrass Today, and Holler Country, while 'Complicated Man' landed on Ear to the Ground Music's Top 20 Songs of 2023. A 2026 Grey Fox Emerging Artist and an Official Showcase Artist at the 2023 IBMA Business Conference, Clifford has toured nationally and opened for Ron Pope and Dar Williams. Offstage, he brings that same passion to the classroom, teaching music to elementary students in New York City.
