"I joined San Francisco’s Local 6 in 1963 with a note from my mom," says guitar god Johnny Vernazza. Born in San Francisco and raised in Daly City, California, he spent the 1970s touring with a gospel band and recorded with blues players like Commander Cody, Luther Tucker, Sunnyland Slim, Gregg Allman, Chuck Berry, Steve Miller, Charlie Daniels, and George Thorogood. Vernazza also spent years with blues-harp player Norton Buffalo and his band the Knockouts, with whom Vernazza still occasionally tours.

He's probably best known, however, for his lengthy stint with the Elvin Bishop band, playing on a half dozen albums and laying down tracks like the 1976 hit “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” (which rose to #3 on the charts) and “Struttin’ My Stuff.” He moved to San Diego in 2001.

His new full-length, Lions and Thieves, released on local Blindspot Records, drops June 1 at Kona Kai Resort & Marina on Shelter Island. "Attendees can expect to see a bad ass band playing some great music," Vernazza tells the Reader. "I’m celebrating my 50th year in the business, and there will be some of the folks that played on a couple tracks."

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The album features originals, tunes written by friends, blues standards, and a cover of “Black Coffee” by Humble Pie. Contributors and players include Elvin Bishop, Charlie Musselwhite, Charlie Daniels, Albert Lee, and famed L.A. Wrecking Crew producer Don Peake.

“I engaged the service of my good friend Don Peake as my producer,” says Vernazza. “Don started his career playing guitar with the Everly Brothers in 1961 and was later hired by Ray Charles in 1964, a gig that lasted well into the '90s. In the '60s...Don later composed the music for the Knight Rider TV series.”

Also twisting knobs: Route 44 Studio owner Harry Gale (Lloyd Jones, George Thorogood & the Destroyers). “I've worked with Harry on many projects,” says Vernazza. “He's brilliant, innovative, [and] always brings great ideas to the mix. He has no fear of pushing the boundaries to achieve something new. Harry contributes so much to everything he's involved with.”

The album has a somewhat different sound from his previous solo releases. "It’s a new band with Mark Bentley [keys and vocals], Jim Reeves [bass and vocals], and Brian 'Nucci' Cantrell [drums and vocals], all San Diego veteran musicians that I handpicked for the CD who very quickly turned into the band. Mark Bentley wrote one track and co-wrote two others on the CD. They all had a very strong hand in the production."

As for the album title, “That comes from a line in the opera Salome, where the jealous stepfather tells Salome that he saw one of her male interest 'resting in the shade with the lions and thieves.'”

Vernazza’s last solo album Jungle Out There was recorded in 2009 at Studio West in Rancho Bernardo. In his down time, he can often be found playing sideman to local blues cat Len Rainey.

In May 2011, Vernazza played the Zydeco-and-blues fest Gator by the Bay, which included reunion sets with former bandmates Elvin Bishop and Norton Buffalo. It was only the second such reunion with Bishop since Vernazza left the Elvin Bishop Band in 1978.

In 2012, he picked up an endorsement deal with Dean Markley Strings. “I was with them back in the '70s,” he says, “when I was with Elvin and they were a young company.”