MEMPHIS, TENN.-- The future of folk music is in good, young hands.

Many of the more than 1,000 muscians that gathered at the Folk Alliance International conference last week were young, fresh and female and amazingly talented.

The conference is held every year so new and old established performers can impress critics, concert promoters and agents in almost constant, round-the-clock concerts.

The experience leaves promoters with notebooks bulging with tips on acts to bring into their festivals and clubs and fans giddy and exhausted from a five-day folk feast. It's one place where performers not only allow, but encourages photos and videos.

The festival had old pros like John Gorka, Patty Larkin, Jonathan Edwards, James Talley and Archie Fisher jamming with kids half their age. The surprise was the performance by the reclusive Willis Alan Ramsey, who all but disappeared after one amazing, influential album in 1972. His big news was that he is recording his second album.

Acts from previous years have gone on to fame and fortune, which is why artists travel from all over and put on their best.

There are large shows and smaller venues that hold about 50 people. But the fun begins every night at 10:30 p.m. with more than 100 shows held simultaneously in hotel rooms, hallways and stairwells.

Performers get to know audience members by name, talk about intimate.

Jim Blum, disc jockey of the Folk Alley show at WKSU-FM in Kent, looked exhausted.

"We all have to remember to open our schedules to discover someone we've never seen before," he said. "These performers are so refreshing because they are young and optimistic. They have not yet been crushed by the music industry."

The term "folk music" is a loose one. Performers played blues, rock, country, ethnic, bluegrass and world music. Canada was well-represented because that nation paid for dozens of performers to attend to spread the word.