Barbara Pecirep and Zach Hurd started Causeway while attending Wheaton College in Massachusetts. For a couple of years Causeway was just a duo, but lately it's starting to become a full band with the addition of long-time Jersey Shore musicians Gary Scannelli on bass and Lew Rosengrant on drums. The pair has formerly played together in bands such as The Ayes and the Mimi Cross Band and adds a different dimension to Causeway's music.
I met up with Barbara and Zach at Drummer's Alley, a music shop in Red Bank owned by Gary Scannelli. It was rather appropriate to meet there as it was Gary who really brought Causeway into the Red Bank music scene by booking them at Echo. Causeway (who is based in Middletown) really hadn't been part of the local scene before that. In fact, they've been searching for a local scene to belong to ever since graduating from college. After graduation, they both returned back home (Zach to Maine and Barbara to Connecticut) but continued on with Causeway.
"We were looking to make a move because we were doing the music as a duo from two different states," explained Barbara. "We'd have a gig and just meet somewhere. It was getting to a point where we had to make a decision... we needed to move some where and take the initiative if we were going to really go for this thing in an every day kind of way."
At the time, they had been playing a lot of shows in New York City (clubs like the Living Room, Bitter End, Crash Mansion) and when Barbara's aunt's apartment became available they decided to give it a try.
"It's only 45 minutes from the city and not that far from Philly," she said. "It was central and there was an apartment and it worked. It was something we could do and be local to a place. And it's been awesome since we moved here. We met Gary and Lew and did a lot of open mics. That's pretty much how we started meeting people and learning where you go and how you do it and just checking out the scene."
If Causeway's name doesn't instantly register with you, it's probably because they spend as much time playing in the city and at colleges throughout the country as they do in New Jersey. They've been hooked up with The College Agency for several years and have played colleges from Pennsylvania to Utah. The agency lines up the gigs and handles the price negotiations. All Causeway has to do is find a way to the show. Sometimes even that is paid for!
February will be another busy month for the band with shows in Red Bank, Basking Ridge and Princeton before the big stuff happens. On February 15th they head over to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania for the Millennium Music Conference. After that show they'll drive to Nashville where they'll take part in the NACA National Conference Showcase. That's where colleges check out the bands they can hire throughout the year. They were at the conference in Minnesota a few years back. Back in November they took part in the NACA West Conference Showcase which was for the western colleges. Looks like that conference is already paying dividends as they've got shows at Eastern Washington University and Seattle University (both in Washington state) coming up in May. In October, they were part of the NACA Central Showcase that was held in Little Rock, Arkansas.
The pair themselves have only been out of school for a few years, so playing on campus is still rather fun for them. Not to mention that college gigs pay very well.
"The great thing about the college show is that you never know what you're going to get," said Zach. "You go to a place and you could have two kids there one night and it could be a packed room of kids excited to hear the music the next."
It's easy to see why Causeway is blending well with the college crowd and the coffeehouse circuit. Zach's got a kind of quirky guitar sound, which reminds me a bit of Jack Johnson and Barbara has a beautifully soothing vocal style. Their songs are a nice blend of acoustic rock and roll and jazz and with the addition of Gary and Lew, the sound just gets bigger and sounds more complete. Causeway mixes pop, rock, folk, r&b and a little hip-hop all and somehow finds a way to blend all of those styles into one cohesive sound.
They said they always planned on having Causeway become a full band but hadn't met the right musicians until now. While the college shows will still feature Causeway as a duo, more and more of the New Jersey shows are becoming band shows and the entire band will make the trip to the Millennium Music Conference.
January 31 @ Red, Red Bank, NJ
February 3 @ Red Oak Grille, Basking Ridge, NJ
February 10 @ Small World Coffee,Princeton, NJ
February 13 @ Echo, Red Bank, NJ
February 15 @ Millennium Music Conference
Ceoltas Irish Pub, Harrisburg, PA
http://www.causewaymusic.net
Join us for McCarter at the Museum - renowned performing artists in one-night only events at the Princeton University Art Museum.
Jason Robert Brown is a four-time Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist of The Last Five Years, Parade, Songs for a New World, 13, The Bridges of Madison County, Honeymoon In Vegas and The Connector, has performed as a soloist or with his band in venues around the world, including sold-out shows at the London Palladium and Carnegie Hall. His albums as a singer-songwriter include Wearing Someone Else’s Clothes and How We React and How We Recover on Ghostlight, and Coming From Inside the House and Live In Concert with Stephen Sondheim on Concord.
With Special Guest Tony nominee Betsy Wolfe. Tony Award-nominated actress Betsy Wolfe is currently starring as Audrey in the acclaimed Off-Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors, following her recent Broadway run as Madeline Ashton in the hit musical Death Becomes Her. She previously originated the title role in Joy, the new musical inspired by inventor Joy Mangano, and earned a 2023 Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her celebrated performance as Anne Hathaway in & Juliet. Other Broadway credits include starring as Jenna in Waitress, Cordelia in the acclaimed revival of Falsettos, Bullets Over Broadway, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Everyday Rapture, and 110 in the Shade, as well as her critically acclaimed performance as Cathy in the Off-Broadway revival of The Last Five Years. Wolfe made her Metropolitan Opera debut in Die Fledermaus and has appeared as a guest artist with more than 65 symphony, pops, and philharmonic orchestras worldwide, including the New York Philharmonic and BBC Symphony Orchestra, with performances at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. Her screen credits include First One In, Estella Scrooge, CBS’s Instinct, and the film adaptation of The Last Five Years. Wolfe is also the co-founder of BroadwayEvolved, the acclaimed musical theatre training program she launched in 2018 to train and mentor the next generation of theatre artists.
A limited number of early access tickets for McCarter Director’s Circle members and members of the Museum’s Partner Circle are available, on sale Wednesday, September 16, 2026 at 12:00 PM. General public on sale begins Friday, September 18, 2026 at 12:00 PM.
Please be aware there is no public drop-off or parking at the Museum. For visitors with mobility needs, please contact the Museum at least three business days in advance of your visit to request special access to the Museum via Elm Drive. Call 609-258-3788 and select option 1 to speak to a visitor services staff member, or email Louise Barrett at [email protected].
