Two days before Shenanigans officially opened, there was no deck.
Co-owner Dana Langston remembers looking up and marveling at the sudden transformation. The construction crew finished the addition at 2:30 a.m., just hours before the city’s occupancy inspection. Despite the tight turnaround, the venue opened June 12 at No. 5 Luster Arcade only one week behind schedule.
Langston and co-owner Erin Rigdon did not initially set out to build a music venue in a fire-damaged former pool hall. They scouted locations all over town before the space — once known as the Town House Tavern — became available.
Smoke stains from the fire are still visible on the venue's walls. During renovations, crews uncovered an old “No Gambling” sign, a broken pool cue and cut-up scraps of old music-store posters and coupons, which the owners are currently piecing back together. They embraced the building's eclectic history, landing on a design aesthetic Langston calls “White Trash Art Deco.”
Since opening, the venue has managed to draw acts that typically bypass rural markets. Langston and Rigdon discovered that West Plains sits in a booking dead zone — a geographical gap between St. Louis, Tulsa and Little Rock where touring bands routing through the region often lack a tour date.
Shenanigans is turning that gap into an advantage, landing acts Langston and Rigdon confess they didn’t expect to book in a small rural market. For August alone, the venue has booked Ace Monroe, Parker Barrow, and the Dirty Heathens. Visiting musicians have started comparing the room to Bucks, a legendary tour stop in Nebraska — a comparison Langston considers the highest compliment. The owners are now chasing dream bookings like Stephen Wilson Jr. and Tanner Ussery.
Nashville-based guitarist and singer Leilani Kilgore performed at the venue on July 31 and serves as proof that the venue's model is working.
A Berklee College of Music attendee who spent years playing classic rock covers on cruise ships, Kilgore’s trajectory shifted during the COVID-19 pandemic when a contract was canceled. Stuck at home, she pivoted to writing original music, resulting in her 2025 debut album, "Tell Your Ghost."
The album was unplanned. Kilgore wrote the 12-track album in rapid succession during a turbulent period in her life — a bad breakup, a split from her management label and a collision with a deer that totaled her car — and recorded the self-produced project in just three days. She described the project as “total chaos” and a grassroots representation of who she really is.
Her upcoming sophomore album, due next March, is produced by Paul Ebersold, known for his work with Eric Gales and Three Doors Down. Ebersold described Kilgore's guitar style as manic, prompting her to dub the new project "controlled chaos."
Kilgore has opened for Buddy Guy, Joe Bonamassa, and 38 Special. Following her West Plains show, she is preparing to leave for a four-week European tour.
Despite her rising profile, Kilgore noted there is no difference in how she performs on a smaller stage like Shenanigans compared to a major festival. She said her goal is to ensure the audience feels like they are part of the show, rather than simply being performed at.
That ethos mirrors the pitch Shenanigans is making to the local community.
“Shenanigans is for everyone,” Langston said.
To back up that claim, the venue keeps cover charges low — averaging around $12, which Langston notes is cheaper than a fast-food meal. With proceeds going directly to the artists, the owners how the accessible pricing and high-energy shows will continue to prove to West Plains that their doors are open to all.
