Hartford recorded a demo and delivered it to Chuck Glaser, who took the demo to Chet Atkins of RCA Records.[3] According to Harford, after writing "Gentle on My Mind", he did not intend to record the song himself.[10] Hartford sent the demos of "Gentle on My Mind" and a second song to sell them, but instead the label decided to offer Hartford a recording contract.[11] Atkins then suggested to the songwriter to use "Hartford" instead of his surname "Harford" as an artist name.