Johnny “V” Vernazza makes his debut this week at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe’s Tuesday Night Blues. The San Diego-based slide guitar legend is originally from the Bay Area, and his career began as the rock music and blues scene exploded in the 1960s. His early band opened for Quicksilver Messenger Service, War and Big Brother and the Holding Company. When Elvin Bishop left Chicago and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, he hired Johnny “V,” who appears on six of his albums. It was Bishop’s most commercially successful era. He was on the Capricorn Record label, and the beginning of the Southern rock sound. Johnny “V” also recorded with Capricorn’s Marshall Tucker Band. Later, Johnny “V” played for many years with Norton Buffalo. Johnny “V” and Elvin Bishop were reunited onstage in 2007 at an outdoor show at the Horizon Casino Resort, which now is Hard Rock. Smoke from the Angora fire filled the air during the concert.