At 17, Brittany Ann Tranbaugh will be one of the youngest artists to perform at the International Folk Alliance Conference when she takes the stage during Thursday’s “Performance Alley” concert series, which also features folk superstars Roger McGuinn, Charlie Louvin and John Sebastian.

That’s after the nascent singer-songwriter travels more than 1,000 miles in a van belonging to the C.F. Martin and Co., which manufactures acoustic guitars just a few miles down the road from her hometown of Easton, Penn.

Brittany Tranbaugh

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“I’ve never been any further south than Myrtle Beach, so I’m excited to be coming to Memphis,” Tranbaugh said in a recent phone interview.

She will join musicians and others from all aspects of the folk music industry from around the world at the conference, which will be held Wednesday through Sunday at the Memphis Marriott Downtown. There will be educational panels as well as musical showcases.

Tranbaugh received an endorsement from C.F. Martin before she even started high school, after an artists relations representative overheard her singing a Jewel song at a Pennsylvania Dutch folk life festival.

“I got my Martin guitar the summer before my freshman year, and from that point on, I started to find my voice and really started writing my own songs and playing gigs,” said Tranbaugh.

“Last year, I went with the Martin people to NERFA (the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance Conference], and I had a blast staying up ’til 6 in the morning jamming in a hotel room hallway with people from all across the country.”

The preternaturally talented Tranbaugh is an A&R man’s dream — except that, like so many artists of her generation, she doesn’t aspire to a major label deal.

“In the past couple years I haven’t equated the best music to major labels,” she explained. “Watching the Grammys the other night, I thought, is this really the best music in the world? Katy Perry and the Jonas Brothers? Really?”

Yet, if she plays her cards right, Tranbaugh might be appearing on the awards program in a year or so. After her brief sojourn to Memphis, she’s joining forces with Grammy-winning producer Glenn Barratt to begin work on her debut album, which she plans to self-release later this year. They’ll be recording at Philadephia’s Morningstar Studios, where a veritable who’s who of million-selling artists, including Elton John, Diana Ross, and newcomers like Justin Guarini and Amos Lee, have cut albums.

“I’m so psyched about it,” said Tranbaugh. “I’m gonna have string players and the whole shebang.”

Brittany Ann Tranbaugh at the 2009 International Folk Alliance Conference

Playing at “Performance Alley,” in the Memphis Room, on Thursday at 8 p.m; and at the “Musical Chairs with Brad Yoder” guerrilla showcase at the Memphis Marriott Hotel on Saturday at 1 a.m. On site tickets are $150 a day for Folk Alliance members; $250 a day for non-members. For more information, go to www.MySpace.com/BrittanyAnnMusic, or www.FolkAlliance.org.