Jack McGaughey is a musician, composer, and educator from Eugene, Oregon. Jack took piano lessons from Sugar Beet Scotty Perey before traveling across the pond to study at Paul McCartney’s internationally renowned Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (BA [Hons] Music '20). After living in the UK and touring internationally for several years, Jack moved back to Eugene and began playing with the Sugar Beets in 2023. He completed his Masters in Music in Composition at the University of Oregon this spring (’26) and is enrolled in the Music Theory Ph.D. program for the fall. In May of 2025, Jack was awarded an Edmund A. Cykler Song Scholar research award by the U of O’s School of Music and Dance. Through the program, he created a ‘living archive’ for the Sugar Beets, broadening accessibility to the band’s extensive back catalogue of beautiful songs and ensuring they can be enjoyed well into the future. He is the creator of the songbook being released today.