Nova Scotia is a Canadian maritime province. Its folk music is characteristically Scottish in character, and traditions from Scotland are kept very traditional in form, in some cases more so than in Scotland. This is especially true of the island of Cape Breton, one of the major international centers for Celtic music.

Originally populated by the Mi'kmaq First Nation, Nova Scotia was then colonized by Scottish settlers, followed by a period of French immigration, and then continued Irish and Scottish migrants arriving in the 18th and 19th century.

Scottish traditional music has remained vibrant on Cape Breton into the 21st century, and has produced several performers of international renown. The first major musician from the island was Rita MacNeil, a mainstream singer whose music did not draw deeply on Celtic traditions. She was followed by Stan Rogers, who was born in Ontario to a Nova Scotian family, and sang ballads of sea-going Maritimers, though again little reflecting the area's Scottish traditions.

The first popular musician who showed Nova Scotia's Celtic heritage was John Allen Cameron , a singer and guitarist, and son of legendary fiddler Katie Ann Cameron , who was herself the sister of the music collector Dan Rory MacDonald .

More recent performers with a Celtic sound in their music include the pop crooning of Sarah McLachlan from Halifax, Mary Jane Lamond and flautist Chris Norman .

Cape Breton has a well-known bagpipe tradition, and has produced some well-known pipers, including Angus MacDonald , Barry Shears and Jamie MacInnes .

It is, however, the fiddling tradition which Nova Scotia and Cape Breton is best known for, and biggest name in this tradition is Winston "Scotty" Fitzgerald from Cape Breton. Also of his generation were a litany of names now known in the international scene, though renown came late for most; these include Joe MacLean , Bill Lamey , Buddy MacMaster, Alex Francis McKay , Dan Joe MacInnes , Angus Chisholm , Dan Hughie MacEachern , Donald Angus Beaton , Theresa MacLellan , Joe Cormier and Paddy LeBlanc . Many of these were first given distribution outside of the area by American folk label Rounder Records, which began a Cape Breton unit in the early 1970s.

The Rankin Family has done more than any group to bring Cape Breton folk music to mainstream audiences in Canada and abroad. They had performed as a family since childhood, playing traditional music that gradually became more modern as their fame grew.

The most well-known modern Cape Breton fiddler is Natalie MacMaster, who comes from a line of musicians that includes Buddy MacMaster, Wendy MacIsaac and Ashley MacIsaac. Her cousin, Ashley MacIsaac, is also quite famous, and controversial for a gritty personality in radical fusions, exemplified by his Hi! How Are You Today? (1995), a landmark recording.

See also: Cape Breton fiddling