Over the years, folk musician Eric Nassau has managed to play his way across most of Central Ohio.

A reoccurring act at ComFest, an annual community festival in Columbus, and a daily performer at Potbelly Sandwich Shop on High Street, Nassau will now have to ready himself for a more intimate experience with music fans.

Nassau is scheduled to perform a free show Thursday at the Grandview Heights Public Library, 1685 West First Ave., at 7 p.m.

Nassau will be performing as part of the “Music in the Atrium” series, a monthly event at the library that features artists from a range of genres. Canaan Faulkner, coordinator of adult programs and web content, said he anticipates a successful show with Nassau.

“It is a good way to kick off the year,” Faulkner said. “He is a great match. He writes about his travels, and it certainly fits in with the library.”

Faulkner said the library can typically expect between 50 and 60 people at each show. With the library being a smaller environment, it provides fans with a more intimate, up close and personal experience with the artist, he said.

Nassau, who has written songs such as “Ohio to Erie Trail Song,” “People Everywhere” and “My Baby’s Too Heavy,” often focuses on topics he finds along his way.

“Most of the songs come from the travels,” Nassau said. “I get to go tour and I get filled with inspiration and hope.”

Nassau said he looks forward to singing for people who are interested in listening to and absorbing his work.

“I do a lot of house concerts on tour and this is very similar,” Nassau said. “At a place like the library, people aren’t coming because they want to drink or socialize, they are coming because they want to listen.”

But this is not always the case.

“I’ve been doing it a long time and when you play in bars, it’s loud, some people aren’t interested and it can be very frustrating,” he said. “When you spend so much time as a songwriter and you’re sitting there singing these delicate words to drunks, it’s not as fulfilling.”

Nassau lists audience interaction as one of the most important aspects to a successful performance.

“I get to have this relationship with the audience — I’m telling a story and we get to go on this journey together,” Nassau said.