MCB, just to clarify what I might have said or not said, when I go to AA, I seldom if ever share, talk, or open my mouth. I usually get there just after 10 minutes have passed (which is how long it takes for the same thing to be said at the first of every meeting) and I like usually to leave right when the group leader indicates the meeting is over and it is time to hand out chips, or close the meeting which (for our group means) holding hands and praying. I don't like holding other people hands either. However, my job (I have my own small company and basically am a salesperson) takes me as far as I can drive and come back in one day. So I have experimented going to meetings in towns your size or smaller. YIKES! The worse case scenario was in a brightly lit room, with tables in a circle so you are facing others, there were a handful of people, and in that one meeting the group leader liked (I guess was his custom) to go left to right, each person saying something about themselves or having to say "Pass" was seems adversarial to me, then if no one was sharing, which is more typical statistically with fewer people, he would call on people to share, or say "Pass" which if I said "Pass" I would feel like I was hiding some deep dark thing about my alcoholism which was bad enough to know each of them knew simply by my walking through the door. So, not being a runner, I stayed for the meeting. From then on, I never went to a small town meeting again. I even will walk out of a room if I walk in and see that I will be facing people. And for GOD sakes, if the leader of the meeting starts calling on people, I am getting up and walking out.
So, I feel ya and thoroughly understand what you are saying. And it is one thing for people to know that you drink (small town bar or dance joint or whatever - I lived in a small town for 2 years, so I understand), and it is an entirely other thing for people who you probably will know to see you walk into the doors of AA. And I get the 'everyone knows your business' thing too.
Hopefully you might find something online where you can be truly anonymous, unlike that second A in AA. Just know that if you do go to the meeting, you are not supposed to have to talk, but I have experienced first hand that in smaller town meetings (like I said) the leader will call on people, otherwise the leader might be forced to talk the whole time or read from the Big Book for the 45 remaining minutes. I certainly don't need to go to a room with other people to read from my hard copy book or the book that I have on my Kindle.