The Red Shoe is a performance venue, with primarily instrumental (fiddle) music. Songs would more often be in Gaelic than English. There's a lot of "sitting in" and jamming, but it's fiddle music, which is what Cape Breton is known for.

There are a bunch of talented singer/songwriters south of there, in the St. Peter's area, but there aren't any regular get-togethers that I know of.

There's a Highland Guitar Society that was meeting one Sunday a month, but I'm not sure if it's currently active; haven't heard anything from them in awhile.

As far as sing-alongs and song circles, you may find them on the mainland. Lunenburg has a terriic folk festival in August, so there may be something of the sort in that area. Good luck!

My info may be out of date. Paging George Seto . . .