There was no one else like Vaughan Mairs. While he could be a little…crusty?… sarcastic?…directive? (“What you need to do, Johnny…”)… at times, he always had a joke ready, he was always ready to help those around him, and he was a great friend to many, a solid shipmate, a valued band member, a fun neighbor, and a wonderful husband and father. Vaughan made friends easily, as evidenced by the huge crowd that paid tribute to him after his passing in June of 2019. A dedicated musician and musicologist, he shared his considerable talent with many bands over the years, including Guano Boys, Regular Joe, Faster Than Walking, Mando Mafia, and, for the last nine years of his life, Scuffletown.

Vaughan came into the world of Scuffletown through a chance invitation to sit in with Marc and John at a 4th of July show at Port Kinsale Marina in 2010. He took a hard look around at the marina lifestyle - sailing all day, playing music at the Moorings Tiki Bar all evening, and capping off the night with whisky, songs and stories on the dock - and promptly traded in his festival camper for a Hunter 33 sailboat named Eva, which he and friends brought down the Bay in a howling Nor’easter. Marina life became a big part of the Mairs’ life, and Vaughan devoted many hours to boat time from then on.

From 2010 to 2019, Vaughan played hundreds of gigs with Scuffletown, adding his own set of unique, often completely off-the-wall tunes to the ScuffleRepertoire. In between gigs, he sailed as often as he could, worked hard, played hard, improved whatever boat was in his life at the time, and most importantly, spent lots of time with his wife Anna and growing daughter Maggie. He always kept his head up as he pushed through years of treatments, surgeries and discomfort, and it was only in the last weeks of his life that we truly realized that he was going to lose his long-running battle with cancer. It is still hard for us to believe that he is gone. For Scuffletown, Vaughan leaves a legacy that is so much bigger than his musical role in the band. We miss him greatly, and we remember him fondly.