The Piano Player Who Broke Into Bluegrass Is Playing a 1926 Schoolhouse This Saturday

By Jon Tharp, Broker  ·  August 13, 2026

The piano almost never leads in Appalachian music, which is what makes the Jeff Little Trio's Saturday night show at the Stecoah Valley Center worth a drive. Little plays a two-handed style borrowed from mountain flat-picked guitar, and hearing it come out of a piano takes a minute to get used to. The Blue Ridge Music Hall of Fame inducted him in 2014.

The show starts at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 15, in the Lynn L. Shields Auditorium, in the Stecoah community of Graham County about ten miles north of Robbinsville. From Asheville it is roughly two hours west, out I-40 to US-74 and then down through Bryson City. Tickets are $25 for adults and $10 for students in grades K-12.

What makes the Stecoah Valley Center worth the drive?

The building is a restored 1926 schoolhouse. It educated Graham County kids for close to seventy years before it closed, and rather than let it fall in, the community turned it into an arts and heritage center. The stone and the wood floors are still there. You notice it the moment you walk in.

The history is part of the music too. An Appalachian Evening runs Saturday nights through the summer with bluegrass, old-time, and folk artists, and the room does a lot of the work. There is no bad seat and no distance between the players and the audience.

The Schoolhouse Cafe serves dinner starting at 6 p.m., which is the move if you are coming any distance. Eat first, walk across the hall, sit down. For tickets or details, call 828.479.3364 or go to stecoahvalleycenter.com.

Who is Jeff Little?

Little grew up in Boone around his family's music store, which in that era meant growing up around some of the best pickers the Blue Ridge produced. He absorbed the flat-picking tradition and then translated it to the keyboard, which almost nobody had done seriously before him.

The result is fast and clean. His right hand does what a guitar's flat pick does, and his left holds down rhythm that would normally take a second player. In a trio setting it fills a room without ever sounding crowded.

If you have spent any time at fiddlers conventions or festival stages in this part of the state, you have probably heard people talk about him. Saturday is a chance to see why in a two-hundred-seat room instead of from the back of a field.

What else is there to do around Robbinsville?

Graham County is home to fewer than 9,000 people and has more to look at than counties ten times its size. The Cherohala Skyway starts in Robbinsville and runs 43 miles into Tennessee with almost no traffic on it. Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest holds old-growth poplars that predate the country.

Lake Santeetlah and Fontana Lake are both right there for a morning on the water. And US-129 north of town is the Tail of the Dragon, which brings motorcyclists in from across the country every summer weekend.

Make a day of it. Drive the Skyway in the afternoon, eat at the Schoolhouse Cafe, catch the show, and head home over the mountains.

Is Graham County a good place to buy a mountain home?

It depends entirely on what you want. Graham County is one of the most remote counties in North Carolina, with no four-lane highway running through it and no big-box shopping within forty-five minutes. For some buyers that is a dealbreaker. For others it is the entire point.

Inventory is thin because the county is small and a large share of the land is national forest. Cabins around Lake Santeetlah and the Fontana area move when they come up, often to second-home buyers who found the place on a trip much like this one. Prices generally sit below what comparable property brings in Highlands or Cashiers, though the trade is a longer drive to a hospital or an airport.

Nights like Saturday are how a lot of people first get a feel for a place. You come for a concert in an old schoolhouse, you notice the neighbors know each other, and you start doing math on the drive home. If that sounds familiar and you want to talk through what living out this way actually looks like, Jon Tharp is around and happy to talk.

One note: the source listed this under Haywood County, but Stecoah Valley Center is in Graham County near Robbinsville. I wrote it with the correct county and adjusted the geo details accordingly.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Stecoah Valley Center and how do I get there from Asheville?

Stecoah Valley Center sits in the Stecoah community of Graham County, roughly ten miles north of Robbinsville on US-129. From Asheville, most people take I-40 west to US-74 through Sylva and Bryson City, then follow US-28 and US-129 south into the Stecoah valley. Plan on about two hours and close to 100 miles. The last stretch is mountain highway with real curves, so build in a little extra time if you are driving it after dark. Coming from Franklin or Sylva shortens the trip considerably, closer to an hour and change.

How much are tickets to An Appalachian Evening at Stecoah?

Tickets for the Jeff Little Trio performance on Aug. 15 are $25 for adults and $10 for students in grades K-12, which makes it one of the more affordable live music nights in the region for a family. Dinner is available separately for purchase in the Schoolhouse Cafe beginning at 6 p.m., an hour and a half before the 7:30 p.m. downbeat. Tickets and current availability can be handled by phone at 828.479.3364 or online at stecoahvalleycenter.com. Shows in this series have been known to fill up, so calling ahead is worth the two minutes.

What is the An Appalachian Evening concert series?

An Appalachian Evening is Stecoah Valley Center's annual summer concert series, running Saturday nights through the warm months in the Lynn L. Shields Auditorium. The lineup rotates through bluegrass, old-time, folk, and Americana, and the center books award-winning touring artists alongside players with deep regional roots. It has become a fixture for both Graham County locals and visitors staying around Fontana Lake and Lake Santeetlah. The shows are family friendly, the room is intimate rather than arena-sized, and the setting inside a restored 1926 schoolhouse is a large part of the appeal.

What else is worth doing around Robbinsville while you are there?

Graham County packs an unusual amount into a small footprint. The Cherohala Skyway begins in Robbinsville and climbs 43 miles to Tellico Plains, Tennessee, with overlooks that rival anything on the Blue Ridge Parkway and a fraction of the traffic. Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest protects one of the largest stands of old-growth timber left in the East, with tulip poplars several people can't reach around. Lake Santeetlah and Fontana Lake sit minutes away for paddling and fishing. US-129 north of town is the Tail of the Dragon, 318 curves in 11 miles, a pilgrimage for motorcyclists.