Singer-songwriter Giulia, pronounced “Julia,” Millanta, originally from Florence and now based in Austin, has built a dynamic career blending Italian roots with the vibrant Austin music scene.
Millanta began playing the guitar at an early age when her father showed her several chords and taught her to play traditional songs. At the age of thirteen, a life-threatening horse accident caused her to spend a month and a half in the hospital recovering from a skull fracture. Even though she was young, she promised herself she would always live her life fully.
Curious and restless with an inclination to travel and explore, she has worked as a horse trainer and touring guide in Tuscany, played music and busked in Barcelona and earned a degree in general medicine from the University of Florence.
In 2008, Millanta signed with the Florentine label Cavern Jatt Records and debuted with “Giulia and the Dizzyness,” an electronic-folk-experimental project.
In 2010, at the Acoustic Guitar Meeting in Sarzana her “accomplished guitar style and songs” earned her the “New Sounds of Acoustic Music” award, which led to an endorsement by the guitar makers Eko.
In 2011 under her own DIY label, “Ugly Cat Music,” she wrote, produced and released “Dropping Down,” featuring Michael Manring and the Grammy Award–winning guitarist Ed Gerhard.
In 2012, Millanta moved to Austin and released “Dust and Desire” co-produced by and featuring guitarist David Pulkingham who has performed with Patty Griffin and Robert Plant. With Pulkingham and percussionist Michael Longoria, she started a band called “The Texas Magpies” and released a cover record in 2013.
In 2014 she released “The Funambulist” (Ugly Cat Music) and in 2016, “Moonbeam Parade,” her fifth solo album. Between 2016 and 2018 Millanta continued to travel and tour in the US, UK and mainland Europe, sharing the stage with world artists like Bruce Channel, author of “Hey! Baby,” featured in the movie “Dirty Dancing,” Spooner Oldham, keyboard player featured on many Aretha Franklin records, Jaston Williams, writer and performer of “Greater Tuna,” Hamell on Trial, a New York City–based punk-folk hero, and many others.
In 2018 Millanta released “Conversation with a Ghost,” produced by Giulia herself and guitarist Gabriel Rhodes who performed with Willie Nelson and Billy Joe Shaver. The record was recorded live with Austin musicians who had become her steady band members: Glenn Fukunaga on bass and Dony Wynn, who performed with Robert Palmer, on drums. It features talents like Marc Ribot, who performed with Tom Waits, on electric guitar, Joel Guzman, performer with Paul Simon, on accordion, John Mills, a performer with Aretha Franklin and David Byrne, on horns, David Pulkingham on guitar, and Kimmie Rhodes on background vocals.
Millanta is also the author of “Between the Strings,” and a cookbook, “Dinner with Giulia – Flavors, songs and stories of a Florentine Troubadour.” In 2025, her ninth record “Only Luna Knows,” was released.
Guilia Millanta’s performance is part of Susanna’s Kitchen Coffeehouse Concert Series at the Wimberley United Methodist Church located at the corner of RR12 and CR1492 on April 16. Tickets are $25. Cash or check only. Doors open at 7 and the concert begins at 7:30 pm. Tamales, pizza, pie, coffee and soft drinks are available for purchase. Proceeds benefit the Barnabas Connection, Bright Beginnings Preschool scholarships and other nonprofits. For more information go to wimberleyumc.org.
