Carolina in My Mind - Other Versions

Other Versions

While "Carolina in My Mind" did not gain much attention from the public upon its original release, it did from other artists. It was a number 29 hit on the American country charts and number 3 hit in Canada in 1969 for North Carolinian singer George Hamilton IV. The Everly Brothers also released it as a single in 1969, under the variant title "Carolina on My Mind", but it failed to chart; this was later collected on their 1994 box set Heartaches and Harmonies. Evie Sands also touched upon it in her 1969 album Any Way That You Want Me.

The song was recorded by Melanie on her hit April 1970 album Candles in the Rain; the arrangement and vocal phrasing are different from Taylor's, and Allmusic writes that her version "exist on an entirely separate plane from the original". It was also recorded in more conventional folk rock form by John Denver on his May 1970 album Take Me to Tomorrow. Philadelphia-based pop group Crystal Mansion released a version in October 1970 that reached number 73 on the US pop singles chart. Dawn included a version of it on their 1970 debut album Candida. Around the same time, Glen Campbell was performing the song as a speeded-up country duet with Linda Ronstadt on his popular television series The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour; this was later collected on his 2007 video release Good Times Again.

The song subsequently became so identified with Taylor that other artists recorded it less frequently, but still by the late 2000s there were some 60 albums (including compilation reappearances and albums from Taylor himself) that featured it.