Doors @ 7:00pm
Show @ 8:00pm
All Ages
Full Bar
Free On-Site Parking
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.
A tour of the US, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Holland will follow both these releases, keeping her on the road till the fall.
-
Ben Jones is an England-born musician who’s fallen in love with Austin. Though he’s far from home, the Austin community has become his lifeline. Jones grew up on the working-class English island of Sheppey. His mom was a bartender and his father was an electrician. In the town, Jones said, “Everyone knew everyone.” Family ties were strained, but he found a lift within his music education connections. After secondary school, he studied music production and gained insight into the layers of the music world. Inspired by writers like Randy Newman, Bob Dylan, Stephen King and the Beach Boys, Jones found his love for music at the age of 13 when he started writing songs. His first song was a love song about a girl. Jones recalled, “We held hands on the playground.” Jones’ newest album “Souvenir” also centers around love and is his most “honest” work. The album unfolds layers of love, loss and recovery.
Almost a year ago, Jones found himself in a dark place. At one point, he began to consider ending his own life, and it was his Austin friends who lifted him out of the valley. His life, for a while, was simple: take meds, get out of bed, sit on the porch, eat, and start a new day. Coming out stronger, friends-become-family by his side, his writing unfolded into the most honest record he's ever crafted.
“The (album) is reflective, not buried in clever writing. I didn’t allow myself to think too much about it. I just cared about the story the songs were telling. “It feels like a snapshot of a three-year journey where you go through an emotional (experience), and it tells the story of where you end up.”
Losing a love slipped him upside down. However, in the process of growing through hardship, he found himself surrounded by love. He also developed a much more present side of himself.
“Too many people take themselves far too seriously, and think it’s about their art being celebrated. To me, it’s not. That’s nonsense. My job is to entertain. It’s not that I don’t consider myself an artist. It’s just that label is so fucking pretentious.”
Jones arrived in Austin in 2014. The city “exceeded his expectations.” He said, it’s this “unbreakable community” he’s bonded with. Even with the two Threadgill’s leaving, and constant landscape changes, there’s a home where he feels rooted. The then, band without a name, circled through Austin meeting a taxi driver who would randomly change their lives forever. William, an “eccentric man,” took them under his wing. “As an English person, I am wary of strangers. He paid the check for our food, exposed us to Austin and essential music venues. We were hungry, and this opened up a lot of doors for us.”
Miles away from Sheppey island, Austin is his home for the long-haul. “You can’t break this community. They stick together. They don’t stop supporting the people (artists) who want to stay.” The unnamed band became the Beat Root Revival with Andrea Magee. Jones feels that whether working with his band or producing solo work, the stories within his lyrics evolve over time. “They are like characters. It’s like acting. You can embody a character. It grows with nuances. “I love that that’s what makes it alive. It doesn't just become this time capsule. It becomes real and alive. “Like when Dylan sings his older songs these days, he doesn’t sing them in the same way he wrote them. It allows the song to breathe. “That’s the whole point of art. It means different things to different people. “I can instill it with meaning, because that’s my job. That’s the job of a songwriter.
-
Miles Zuniga is a Grammy nominated recording artist and songwriter. He started Fastball in 1994 with Tony Scalzo and Joey Shuffield. The trio had a smash hit with "The Way" in 1998. Miles has written several songs with other artists including Spoon and the Dandy Warhols.