“Are there some good resources for hiring musicians that aren’t in your immediate area? I live in the mountains and there really aren’t too many people around.”
Presumably there is some reasonably sized town within driving distance, and they may have an agency there that can pull talent from around the region. Choosing the right people can be complicated though. Do they have the necessary skills? Do they feel comfortable with the musical style? Have they done projects like this before? Are they easy to work with? When choosing players and singers, you should also consider their range of experience and if they can read music. Even if you don’t need them to be able to read you will often find that players who are comfortable reading can catch on quickly to what you want – though you should make sure they are also comfortable working without written parts if that’s what you require.
Here’s a list of websites you may find useful for finding players.
http://www.cadenza.org/musicians
http://www.freemusiciansclassifieds.com
You’ll find that some of these even have it broken down by region. These days it is becoming increasingly feasible to utilize players some distance away due to innovative services such as Rocket Network, which enable you to rent on-line file storage space where many users can collaborate on a project.