IN THE PIPELINE:

“That ‘X’ on the floor is where Elvis stood when he recorded his first record,” so the kid at Sun Studios in Memphis tells me this week, and so I am reminded just how deep the roots of rock ’n’ roll are here in the South.

Earlier on this cold, rainy day, I stood on a dilapidated outdoor stage where Presley first got paid to sing, then walked along Beale Street, where the air is still filled with gospel, blues and of course rock ’n’ roll. In a day I’m set down to drive to the town of Clarksdale, Miss. There, in the rich, mysterious delta soil, the blues was born.

At the Crossroads, where highways 61 and 49 converge, it’s said Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil one midnight in exchange for talent that would make him the world’s greatest blues guitarist. Whether it happened or not, I can’t wait to get there. It’s a sort of Mecca. I get hypnotized by these amazing American art forms, the blues, jazz, rock ’n’ roll, and the stories surrounding them. So how perfect that a local story about music found me this week. And what a bonus to be sitting here writing it first in Memphis, and then finishing it up near the Crossroads.

A few months ago, I wrote a piece about the great Shirley Babashoff, the Olympian swimmer who has been a mail carrier here in Huntington Beach for 20 years. She sent me a note last week about some good news.

Her son Adam’s band had just won a contest. The prize? A trip to London to play the after-party of the Led Zeppelin reunion show (which I’m sure many of you heard about). The band is called Paper Thin Walls (Adam describes them as a “dancey, rock, indie kind of band”) and this may just have been the break of a lifetime.

The band entered a contest on Ziddio.com that was put on in conjunction with Virgin Airlines and Gibson. They won the “Dream Gig” as it was called thanks to their video submission of a tune called “Light Bright.” The judges picked them, and off they went a couple of days before the Zeppelin show.

The band is made up of Adam Babashoff on bass, Adam Castilla on guitar, Sergio Garcia on vocals and Maya Tuttle on drums. For all but one of this early-20s bunch, the trip abroad was their first — and what a way to start.

Sunday they toured London, and Monday it was the day of the show. Paper Thin Walls sound-checked in the afternoon at a place called Indigo 2, which is next door to O2, where the Zeppelin show would take place. Immediately after the big show, the VIPS would move over to the club to hear our locals play.

The band was treated to VIP tickets to see Zeppelin’s much-talked about show, and Babashoff was left dazed and confused by the experience. “I can’t even describe yet what it was like — but it was unforgettable, just awesome,” he said. But the bassist didn’t have too long to savor the moment because just 10 minutes after Zeppelin, they would hit the stage themselves.

Adam told me their set went great. No nerves, even with people like Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney floating around. He saw Dave Grohl, of Foo Fighters and Nirvana fame, which provided a thrill. And they were warming up the Indigo 2 stage for Bill Wyman, the former Stones bassist who now fronts his own band and on this night in London, brought up Ben E. King, Sam Moore and Percy Sledge, among others.

Tuesday the band came home to Orange County, dreams of the trip still in their head (and no doubt, ringing ears). They made some great industry contacts, they’ve got some free gear coming from Gibson, and now it’s on to the next level. But they’ll never forget being a part of the legendary Zeppelin gig. “The most amazing thing that’s happened to us yet,” said Babashoff. But I doubt that will be the last great thing that will happen to them. Check them out at paperthinwalls.tv and you’ll see what I mean.

Which brings me here to Mississippi — near the Crossroads. Robert Plant and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin did an album back in 1998 called “Walking into Clarksdale” about the town I’m in right now. Blues hounds that they are, they get the gravity of this place — that the seeds of rock ’n’ roll were planted in the soil here many moons ago. Standing here, I think of how appropriate it seems that an up-and-coming band today is off to play as part of a Zeppelin event. It ties it all together, from the Delta, to Memphis and beyond. When kids strap on guitars, play drums, keys, and start singing and playing, the ground must shake down here, deep in the earth. Because this place is the heart of it, where it all sort of started. And for bands like Paper Thin Walls, I’m sure the music gods are happy.

Review of the show? Post it In The Pipeline, www.hbindependent.com/ columns.

• CHRIS EPTING is the author of nine books including his latest, “Led Zeppelin Crashed Here, The Rock and Roll Landmarks of North America.” He also hosts “The Pop Culture Road Trip” radio show on webtalkradio.net.