Singer-songwriter, Giulia (Julia) Millanta, is a native-born Italian from Florence who now calls Austin, Texas home.
A creative and prolific artist, she has released seven solo albums, touring nationally throughout the USA and internationally. An accomplished guitarist, Giulia also plays ukulele and sings in four languages. She has been called smart, pensive and cool and credited with psychedelic grooveability whilst “baring her clairvoyant soul” to “deliver musical mojo.”
Giulia began her life in music as a child of eight years when taught to play guitar by her father she began to perform traditional folk songs. She continued to sing and began writing songs and making records. Performing at the Acoustic Guitar Meeting in Sarzana in the spring of 2010 her accomplished guitar style and songs earned her the “New Sounds Of Acoustic Music” award. This led to an endorsement by the renowned guitar makers Eko, choice of the most famous 60’s-80’s era singer-songwriters throughout Italy.
In 2008, she debuted with “Giulia and the Dizzyness” (Cavern Jatt Records.)
Then, in 2011, she released “Dropping Down” (Ugly Cat Music/Audioglobe) distinguished by her maturing skills as musician, producer, writer and arranger.
Deciding to expand her musical borders in 2012 she moved to Austin where she was soon embraced by the music community and its fans as a writer, collaborator and performer in the scene’s most prestigious singer-songwriter venues.
Shortly after she released “Dust and Desire” (Ugly Cat Music/Audioglobe.) Just a couple of years later in 2014 she broke new ground with “The Funambulist” (Ugly Cat Music) Surrounded by a host of new friends and fellow musicians as “between the lines” she conceptualizes the tightrope walk she has been through, writing and singing of all she has experienced, learned and become.
In 2016, Giulia released her fifth solo album “Moonbeam Parade”, 13 self-penned tunes fueled by a new direction on electric guitar. Produced by Giulia herself on her own label “Ugly Cat Music”, with her friend and producer George Reiff, with a stellar band featuring some of the best musicians in Austin, such as Charlie Sexton (Bob Dylan), Howe Gelb (Giant Sand), Glenn Fukunaga (The Dixie Chicks), Gabriel Rhodes (Willie Nelson),David Pulkingham (Patty Griffin) and many more.
In 2018 Giulia releases “Conversation with a Ghost” produced by herself and Gabriel Rhodes. The record also features talents like Marc Ribot (Tom Waits) on electric guitar, Joel Guzman (Paul Simon) on accordion, John Mills (David Byrne) on horns.
2018 was also a great year for awards for Giulia, since she won the Premio Ciampi for “Not You”, her version of Piero Ciampi’s song "Tu no" and was awarded with the Doc's Blues Awards 2018 as BluesWoman of the year by Severn Fm Radio.
After 2 years of collaborations and after touring extensively in the US and Northern Europe, Giulia returns in the studio in early 2020 to record a new album. “Tomorrow is a Bird”, once again co-produced with guitar player and poli-instrumentalist Gabriel Rhodes, features some of the most influential musicians in the Austin music scene. The album is about re-evaluating life, about endings and beginnings, failures and opportunities, about changing direction, trusting that the wind will support your wings and get you where you need to go.
A self-published book entitled “Between the Strings” explores the other side of being a musicians, her life on and off the road, and marks Giulia’s debut as a writer.
In the summer/fall of 2021 Giulia records “Woman on the Moon” (out in April of 2022)
The record was almost entirely performed by Giulia and Gabriel with the exception of drum parts.
Some odd instruments were used in these recordings: a wet towel in the bathroom sink, puppet legs against a wooden box, various guitars played with cello bow, Giulia’s naked thighs …
The record is a journey of separation and unity, through the masculine and feminine inside of us.
In the Spring of 2022, Giulia publishes her first novel “Fratture” with an Italian publishing company names Porto Seguro.
In April 2024, Millanta is poised to release her ninth solo album (her sixth in the US), Only Luna Knows, along with an Italian cookbook, “Dinner with Giulia - Flavors, Songs and Stories of a Florentine Troubadour”.
In the past few years Giulia has performed in some of the best rooms in the US and Europe such as:
The Kessler Theatre in Dallas, TX (opening for 10,000 Maniacs)
The Heights Theatre in Houston, TX (opening for 10,000 Maniacs and Squirrel Nut Zippers)
The 04 Center in Austin, TX
Club Passim in Cambridge, MA
Tin Angel, Philadelphia PA
An Die Musik, Baltimore, DE
Rockwood Music Hall, NYC
The Blue Door, Oklahoma City, OK
The Mucky Duck, Houston, TX
Opera House, Terlingua, CO
Walnut Room, Denver, CO
In the Woods, Leusden, NL
De Harmonie, Edam, NL
Mandy’s Lounge, Homburg, DE
Teatro Romano di Fiesole, Florence, IT
Mascini Theatre, Amsterdam, NL