In the book world, Soulful bar and nightclub already existed before Tweety and the crew found it and helped revamp it into the next version of it’s life. So, what kind of life did this bar have? Can I show it with music? I like a good challenge…

No matter what decade it was, there was always a form of respect. Back then, bars were for dating, and if there was roughness, it was solved with bouncers or the occasional clack clack suggesting a loaded problem solver. Soulful was run by a husband and wife team, so of course they set an example of not only how to behave, but what a good relationship looked like.

Keep Your Hands To Yourself – The Georgia Satellites

After all, the Mr. and Mrs. that ran Soulful? They weren’t corporate business types. They learned on the job, used their hobbies (the wife’s stained glass interest became a couples thing AND a lasting mark in the building) and just made it work. They were happy, and shared that with others. She was an interesting, artsy, social little lady. And Gus? He was a simple man, who would do anything for the good woman he married.

Simple Man – Lynyrd Skynyrd 

Everything about the staff before the revitalization was a good talk about choices. Not quite qualified therapy, but a simple man with a simple ear and a habit of talking. Not everything that happened to the bar lifers were their choices, but the experiences made for good wisdom. The ability to talk through some options because many had already been there and done that. It created that homey feeling, that someone knew your name, your drink, and your problems well enough to keep tabs on you.

Choices – George Jones

But Gus, after he started losing Jeannie? He started to be more pensive about the years he had, the choices he made, and the ones he’d remember forever, giving a new sort of somber advice style to his stories. Not all of them, but the ones that meant the most? Sounded like love, life and memories all blurred together in a way you felt. He could even make a glass of milk feel like it had a kick of a shot of the good stuff.

The Good Stuff – Kenny Chesney

Around the time he makes the deal to keep his Soulful alive long enough to pass it down to his grandson, Gus, our longtime Mr. of the couple? He’s older. His grandson Greg is in his late teens. Almost there, but not quite. So Gus holds on, even if things start to slip and get forgotten. Though, the extra staff that come in the form of Tweety and her friends? They give him a chance to stop fighting so hard alone, and enjoy some of his days and stories again. He doesn’t go crazy, after all he’s still our simple man with decades of bar life. But his advice? Feels a bit more like the live like you were dying type. Because no one but the co owners know how close Gus was to being shut down. That second lease on life feels like borrowed time, but also a full circle back to his younger days…

Live Like You Were Dying – Tim McGraw