James Taylor, the beginning

It was at the end of 1967 when James Taylor started playing solo and financed by a small family inheritance, he left America and went to live in London. After recording some demos in Soho, he was given a great opportunity, connecting him with Peter Asher ( one member of the duo Peter & Gordon). Asher was the head of A & R (Artist & Repertoire, a division of a record label or music publisher responsible for discovering new talents) for the Beatles' new label, Apple Records. James Taylor gave a demo of songs, including "Something In The Way She Moves", to Asher and eventually became the first non-British artist signed for Apple. Asher later became Taylor's manager.

Then Taylor wrote additional material, which included "Carolina In My Mind" and rehearsed with a new accompaniment band. He recorded what would be his first album from July to October 1968, at Trident Studios, at the same time as The Beatles recorded The White Album. McCartney and an uncredited George Harrison appear in "Carolina in My Mind," whose lyrics "holy host of other standing about me" referred to the Beatles. Taylor's Something in the Way She Moves provided the lyric starting point for Harrison's "Something". McCartney and Asher brought in the arranger Richard Anthony Hewson.

During the recording sessions, Taylor fell back into drugs, underwent treatment in a British program, returned to New York and was hospitalized there, and finally engaged with the Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Meanwhile, Apple released its debut album, James Taylor, in December 1968 in the United Kingdom and in February 1969 in the United States. The critical reception was generally positive, but in the commercial aspect, the album suffered due to the inability of Taylor to promote it due to his hospitalization, and it was sold badly. 

"Carolina in My Mind" was released as a single, but did not enter the UK charts and only reached #118 on the American charts.